Triple Farron
by The Simplest of Hearts
Summary: Faith Farron, 16, the sister of a l'Cie and a Guardian Corps soldier. What happens when her fate changes? A Purge, a fal'Cie, and being a Farron. (Rating made for language and small graphic violence.)
1. Chapter 1

_" But sis-!" _

_" No buts! You are getting on the train!" She cut me off._

_" You are a soldier! Soldiers and their families don't have to get on the trains!" I tried to talk her out of making me go, but it was no use. _

_" I know that!" _

_" So why do I have to get on?" _

_" Because!" _

_" Because why?" _

_" You know why!" _

_It was true, I did know why, but I just was...scared to get on that train. _

_" Listen, she doesn't need to get on. Just let her hide with us, sis-" _

_" I'm __**not**__ your sister! She __**will**__ get on that train and that is __**final**__!" She was so mad, but not as mad as she was just hours earlier. _

_" Fine!" I stormed out of the room. I could hear her and him arguing over it. When I finally left the house, I cried._

…_..._

This. Sucked. Why you may ask?

The Purge.

But that wasn't all. Just days before this day came, many bad things happened.

First, my-

A loud noise came from outside, and vibrations shook the train as it came to a halt. Many of the younger kids screamed in fear, and soldiers came in shushing them while pointing guns at everyone.

'Three...Two...One...'

One very hulky figure toppled over one of the soldiers, and broke the device to unlock the Purgee coats.

Once my hands were free, I took my coat off, and helped the others.

"Faith! Come on!" I heard a male's voice yell out my name, and I ran in that direction.

"Yeah?" I went over to the guy who called me, Snow.

"We got PSICOM to kill, time to get going'!" Gadot, another guy, said.

"Alright!"


	2. Chapter 2

Once we got off the train, we told everyone what they should do in order to stay safe.

"Faith! I found these." Lebreau ran up to me, and handed my claw blades to me.

"Thanks." I grabbed them, and put them on my belt. …...

After a little while, everyone finally calmed down, and we could get them to safer places. I helped some of the younger kids find their parents, then I noticed Snow climbing over some debris.

"Wait! Snow! Aren't you leaving somebody behind?" I yelled.

"Whoops! Sorry." He grabbed my hand, and helped me up, and over the other side.

Once we were on the other side, I could hear Maqui complaining. Snow jumped down, then me.

"No dirt naps today! We're all in this together!" Snow told Maqui. "Our enemies the Cocoon Sanctum! Their dreaded PSICOM, no less."

"What's to dread? PSICOM's nothing but a whole bunch of bluster and bullying. They've got nothing on NORA." Lebreau said, and went back to shooting.

"Well! We are the hero's after all!" Gadot yelled.

"Okay then! Lets prove it!" Snow got up.

Everyone agreed.


	3. Chapter 3

Time Skip

…...

After handing the survivors who wanted to fight some guns, we ran ahead to where trouble was brewing. We finally shot down some soldiers. When we though we finished that round, a Skycraft came in with the bigger guns. It shot some of our own.

"Snow! We've got trouble!" Gadot yelled.

"No kidding." Snow muttered, just loudly for you to hear it, and scanned the area.

"Over there!" I yelled, and pointed at a bazooka gun.

"Stay down!" He told me and a kid's mom. We agreed, and he ran over the gun.

But, he missed, and didn't reach it. He fell, and the Skycraft aimed at him.

The mom got up, and ran over. She took the bazooka gun, and shot the Skycraft right in it's missile launcher.

I cheered, even if no one else did, she saved Snow!

Then, before you knew it, a missile from another Skycraft shot the bridge. It broke in half, and everyone fell.

I screamed as I fell, and for what felt like forever, I felt impact and blacked out. ...

(Day 7)

I sat under the shade with Yuj and Gadot, listening to them argue and argue over some game.

"You cheated!" Yuj yelled.

"I did not! I swear!" Gadot yelled back.

"If you two don't shut up, I'm going to make you BOTH lose!" I screamed loud enough for birds to hear.

"Alright alright! Geez, you ARE Lightning's sister," Yuj joked.

"And proud of it too!" We laughed.

...

"...Faith!" I started to gain consciousness, and a pain in my left leg.

I heard someone yelling my name, but I couldn't make out who the voice belonged to. Then, I felt huge hands start shaking my shoulders, and I groaned.

Not only my leg hurt, my whole body hurt. I heard a few sighs of relief, then I felt no more ground under me. I was picked up.

Then, whoever picked me up, sat down. An engine started up, and after that sleep got me.

…...

I finally woke up, and I was still in the air, but I was in a different position.

I looked at who was holding me, and it was Snow. "Bout' time you woke up, Faith, almost got me worried there for a while," he said.

It took me a minute to register what happened before I blacked out.

Missile, the mom, bridge breaking, falling. It finally came to me.

"What happened to everyone else?" I asked.

He sighed, and took a minute to answer, "We got most of them."

I nodded my head, and looked towards where we were going. To the Vestige.

'_Here we come Serah. We aren't going to let you down_," I thought.

Then, there was a odd noise coming from the engine.

"What the-?" Before he could finish that sentence, we came crashing into the Vestige. I ended up blacking out again.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up from being knocked out again, and I was laying on Snow's torso. I quickly got up and shook him.

Snow was a hard person to wake up, I know from experience.

I stood up, and gave him a hard kick in the abdomen. He woke up with a loud grunt.

"Geez, Faith! You could've let me sleep for another 5 minutes," Snow said with a tired voice.

"Fine, get your 5 minutes of precious sleep. I'll just go save Serah myself," I joked, and started to walk away, but Snow quickly got up.

"Let's go," he said, and we walked down the stairs.

...

Time Skip

...

We ended seeing everything we saw before. This Vestige was like a labyrinth.

"We're never going to find her. And if we do, will she be-"

"Hey, don't think like that. We're going to find her, and she'll be alright," Snow ruffled my hair, "She's around here somewhere, along with that fal'Cie."

I sighed, then gave a small smile. He was right, we were going to find her. Then I heard roaring, and scanned the area.

"What was that," I asked.

Snow looked, then pointed over at some Cie'th.

We ran over there, and there were two people in trouble. I got my claw blades out, and prepared for battle.

"Let's even these odds!" Snow yelled.

...

Afterbattle

...

We finished the battle, and the boy fell to his knees in defeat.

"How'd you get in here?" Snow asked.

The girl just giggled nervously.

"Alright. Listen, find someplace to hide and keep quiet," Snow started, "Once I find Serah, we'll all leave together. You'll be in time for dinner!" Me and Snow laughed, and started to walk off, when the girl stopped us.

"Wait! Who's Serah?" She asked.

"Serah is my sister and his fiance. The fal'Cie took her captive." I told her.

"She's a Pulse l'Cie," Snow said, "me and Faith are going to find her."

"What's wrong with you?" The boy yelled. "Why would you want to help a l'Cie? They're the enemy! How could you save a l'Cie and not...That's insane!"

"Probably, but I gotta do something right?" He asked.

"She's my sister, that's why I want to help her. It's natural for me to do that." I told the boy. "We'll be back!" Snow and I ran off, but I stopped.

"What's wrong?" Snow asked.

"We shouldn't leave them there. I mean, they both need our help. They got in here, but do you really think them to have a chance to get out alone?" I replied.

"Alright, then lets go back!" Snow pumped his fists, and we ran back to them. They were the same as we left them.

"Hey again."

They finally came with us, and we went off to go save Serah.

...

Timeskip

...

We went down an elevator, and in the distance you could see three figures. As we got closer to the floor, I could see who it was. It was them!

"Serah!" Snow yelled, and jumped off the elevator and ran over to her, I followed his actions.

"You all came.." Serah said.

"Of course we did," I told her, giving a faint smile.

"Let's get you out of here," Snow said.

"Hands off, I'm taking her home!" Lightning retorted.

"Sis, I-"

"I'm not your sister! You couldn't protect her!" Lightning interrupted him.

"Guys, let's not fight. We'll all take her home and-"

"You can save us," Serah said.

"What?"

"You can save us, protect us all. Save...Cocoon," Serah replied. Serah started to fall back asleep, but we tried to keep her awake.

"What? Save Cocoon? That was your Focus?" Lightning rushed her words out.

"Anything, I'll do anything. Leave it to me, you'll see. I'll protect Cocoon! I'll save everyone!" Snow tried his hardest to get her to believe him, and which Serah probably did.

"Somehow, I'll make things right." Lightning said.

"Trust us, we will," I told her.

"You just relax," Snow reassured her.

Serah smiled, and said, "Thank you." She started to glow a bright blue, and drifted into the air.

"Wha-Serah!" I yelled, as she got higher and higher into the air.

Snow didn't let her hand go.

Lightning still had her hands under her.

And I kept staring at her.

Slowly, crystal encased her. A teardrop fell from her, and landed in Snow's hand. She came back down from the air, completely crystal.

"Serah, sweet dreams," Snow whispered.

"Sweet dreams?" Lightning yelled, and grabbed Snow by his shirt, "she's not sleeping! She's..." Lightning let him go and looked down at Serah.

"The legend, remember the legend!" Snow started, "L'Cie who fulfill their Focus turn to crystal and gain eternal life. It's the same with Serah! Eternal life! She's not dead! She's my bride to be, I promised to be hers forever. I don't care how many years I have to wait-"

Lightning punched him square in the chest, making him fall back. "It's over! Open your eyes and face reality!"

I sighed, and helped Snow back up.

What if Lightning was right? What if Serah was really...gone? No, no, no. Serah's not gone, she's alive, she's just crystal. She'll get out of that crystal no matter what. Some legends are real, and I know this legend has to be true.


	5. Chapter 5

Then, the Vestige started to shake. Rocks and dust fell from above. Lightning, Snow, and I protected Crystal Serah from the debris, even if the crystal was unbreakable.

'Please let us live. Please let us live. Please let us live.' I said over and over in my mind, hoping for the best. I didn't dare look right after the shaking stopped, not until Snow or Lightning said it was safe too.

I felt a pat on my shoulder, and it was Snow.

I got up, and there was this door that had a Pulse l'Cie brand engraving on it. It opened.

Snow held Serah's hand, "I'll be right back," he said, and started to walk over to the door.

"Yo, trench coat! Where ya going?" The older man asked.

Snow stopped, "Date with the fal'Cie. Got some things to talk about."

"What? Your going to ask **IT** to help her? Are you out of your mind, kid?" The man asked, "That thing wants to chew us up and spit us out."

"Well what do you want me to do?" Snow yelled, and swung his fist violently.

Lightning and I sighed, and I looked over at her. She must've read my mind, because when I going to ask her, she started to head for the door. I followed her.

"Lightning, Faith?" Snow followed behind.

...

We walked in the door, down a small and dark hallway, and there it was.

I imagined it to be a big, scary monster, like most people told me Pulse fal'Cie were.

But it was just this dome shaped, hunk of copper. With some tubes connected to it.

"Serah's a crystal now. You gave her a Focus, and she did it! You got what you want. Now let her go!" Snow yelled at it.

We hesitated for a second, and nothing happened.

Snow fell to his knees, and pleaded, "Turn her back! I'll be your l'Cie instead!"

"Fine, you go on begging. Like this thing gives a damn what we want!" Lightning ran up to it, and hit it with her gunblade, but it bounced back.

"Lightning!" Snow and I yelled when she fell back.

She huffed, "It's this thing's fault the Purge started, and it's people who are dying. Serah told us to save Cocoon, that means this thing needs to die!"

Under us, bright gold lights shone. The floor started to turn clear, and you could see gears turning under it. Larger gears rose from the ground, and the dome started to open. A bright light blinded us for a minute, and when we looked, the actual fal'Cie came out of it.

"Come on now, you really think you can kill a fal'Cie?" The man asked Lightning.

"I'm doing this for Serah!" She yelled.

I took out my claw blades, and readied them, "I'm with you, sis!"

"I'm in." The man unholstered his guns, "got these things, might as well use them."

I looked over at him, "Thanks."

The boy and the girl with the pigtails stayed out of the battle, I couldn't blame them, this was going to be a pain.

...

Afterbattle

...

White engulfed us, then slowly our vision became clear.

We were floating in the air, no floor below us. Above us were crystals, and you could hear bells chiming.

"Where are we?"

"What's going on?"

A geyser shot the crystal, and the fal'Cie was back in a different form.

Tendrils shot out from the fal'Cie, and grabbed us.

I tried to struggle out of the bindings, but it was no use, they were tight.

Then, more tendrils shot out, and hit us.

One hit me in my left shoulder. I cried out as pain seared through my shoulder. It let us go, and just seconds after, I passed out

...

I had a dream. I dream of a huge monster jumping into what looked like lava. The monster had many, many arms. Then, the blurry dream ended.


	6. Chapter 6

I woke up to Snow yelling Serah's name.

Just moments after, everyone else woke up.

What had just happened?

_'Tendrils shot out from the fal'Cie, and grabbed us. I tried to struggle out of the bindings, but it was no use, they were tight. Then, more tendrils shot out, and hit us. One hit me in my left shoulder. I cried out as pain seared through my shoulder. I had a dream. I dream of a huge monster jumping into what looked like lava. The monster had many, many arms. Then, the blurry dream ended.' _

Oh yeah, that's what happened.

"So, this must be, Lake Bresha?" The man asked, "I guess we fell from up there. And the lake turned to crystal? Help me out here! I mean, did the fal'Cie do this? How in the world did we end up here?"

"How should I know?" Lightning replied to him.

The girl with the pigtails sat on her knees, "We're alive, but how?"

"Serah!" Snow said, "No one survives a fall from that high. Not without a miracle. Serah saved us!"

"Serah? Listen, it's all your fault she-" A Cie'th was headed towards Lightning.

"Lightning! Behind you!" I screamed.

The Cie'th swung it's arm back, but Snow ran over to it and blocked Lightning. His arm shone, and he punched the Cie'th with...ice?

"What did I..just do?" Snow whispered.

The boy got up, "You used magic! You used the power of a l'Cie! The fal'Cie cursed us! We're l'Cie now!"

More Cie'th started to pile in.

Lightning unholstered her gunblade, "Right."

...

Afterbattle

...

The Cie'th finally all died, and we got to get a break.

"So we really are l'Cie," Snow said.

I sighed, and tried to think of where my brand would be.

_'One hit me in my left shoulder.' _

I unbuttoned my left sleeve quickly, and there it was. My brand was sitting there on my shoulder. "Yup, guess we are," I said.

Then, last one was the boy. "L'Cie to the last," Lightning said to him.

He fell to his knees, "Why me? I don't even know you! But you have to go and attack that thing?" He yelled at Lightning. "Just leave me alone! It's your fault. It's your fault..that she..you could've...All of this is yours and Serah's fault!"

"Watch it!" Snow yelled at the boy.

"You don't talk about my sister that way!" I yelled at him, and he fell back. Even I was surprised at myself, since I rarely ever do that.

He backed up and up, until he was right at Lightning, and she gave him one of her death glares.

He crawled away and started to cry.

Snow and I apologized. I didn't mean to yell at him, it was just that we got turned into l'Cie and one of my sisters was crystal.

The girl with the pigtails dragged the boy off, and the others followed.

I started to follow, but stopped to see if Lightning was coming. She looked over, then followed me.


	7. Chapter 7

TimeSkip

...

We took another short break, just to solve this puzzle.

"Okay, if we don't know our Focus. How do we complete it?" Lightning pondered.

The girl with the pigtails looked over, "I think...I saw it."

"Saw what?" Lightning asked.

The man walked in, "That is how a Focus comes down, people. The fal'Cie? They don't spell it out with clear-cut instructions. All you get is a hazy glimpse."

Snow and Lightning took the same pose, and looked over at him suspiciously.

Then it occurred to me, even though the two didn't really get along well, they were so much alike. But no thinking about that right now, we've got a Focus to worry about.

The man hesitated, "Well, that's what they say. Legends and all." Then he started muttering about the whole legend thing.

"Did you see anything?" Lightning asked the boy.

He looked a little surprised, probably because of how we blew up at him earlier, "I..uh..I just..It's all kinda foggy, but...I saw this big...I mean _towering_-"

"W-wait a minute. Hold on now. Did we ALL have the same dream?" The man asked.

"Ragnarok," Snow, Lightning, and I said simultaneously.

...

The vision went over again in my head like a broken record, it was something you couldn't forget. It scared me, thinking _that's_ my Focus.

...

"I guess, we all saw the same thing," I said.

"We all heard that same voice," The man said aswell.

The boy walked over, "So that was our Focus? But, how are we supposed to know what to do from that?"

"That's the tricky part. The dream's the only hint the fal'Cie gives us. Figuring out what to with it, thats our job." The girl with pigtails said.

"Wait, wait...we're Pulse l'Cie, right? Enemies of Cocoon! So, does that mean our Focus is to...Are we supposed to-?"

"Save her," Snow cut him off.

"Say what?"

"Our Focus is to protect Cocoon." Snow tried to convince us.

"Oh really now? Now why's that, hero?" I asked Snow, almost sounding like Lightning.

"Serah told us. Let's do it. We're all in this together. I'm gonna look for Serah, she oughta be nearby." Snow walked off.

The girl with pigtails gasped, "I'll come too!" And she ran off after him.

"That boy can't stay still!" The man said, and followed them.

"Really," the boy mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.

Lightning didn't follow.

"Sis? I know your mad at him, but don't you want to find Serah?" I asked her.

She sighed, then nodded her head. She followed me as I followed the others.

...

TimeSkip

…..

Snow held his fist in the air, "We fight it! Ragnarok! That's the reason we're l'Cie! To stop it! To keep Cocoon safe!"

"Yeah, then why don't you give us one reason to believe that? One reason," The man held up his index finger.

"Serah," Snow flat out answered.

I gave a short chuckled, "You think everything is because of Serah, don't you Snow?"

"Yes ma'am I do! She said to protect Cocoon, then she turned to crystal. That's the proof right there! She completed her Focus! That means ours is to protect Cocoon. Serah's fal'Cie was the same as ours. Our Focus has gotta be the same! We were chosen to be guardians, to defeat Ragnarok. It makes sense!" Snow yelled.

"The hell it does! You're grasping at straws, son! Pulse fal'Cie are Cocoon's enemies! We just got recruited by one of them! If I were a betting man, I'd put us on the other side." The man said.

Snow stomped, "So Serah's an enemy to? Well I don't buy that!" He ran over to Lightning, "We have the power to save Cocoon, if we work together to and carry out our Focus-"

Lightning put her gunblade up to his neck, "Our Focus? The fal'Cie took Serah from us! And you want to help it? What side are you on?"

"Freeze!" PSICOM soldiers surrounded us.

"Place your hands behind your heads," one of them told us.

We did as told, except for Lightning.

"Sis, do what they said," I whispered to her, and she dropped her gunblade.

"You fall off the Purge train?" One of them ask sarcastically.

Lightning put her hands behind her head and smirked, "Maybe."

"Are you talking back to me?" The soldier ran up to her and put his gun up to her neck, "Ah?"

She chuckled, "Nice gun." She slapped the gun out of his hands, and kicked him in the air.

"Get her!"

"Stop her!"

"Freeze!"

She kicked her gunblade into the air, and caught it. She snaked through the soldiers, and battle commenced.

...

Afterbattle

...

"I thought they'd be tougher than that. These guys are PSICOM, yeah?" The man waved his hand over the soldier to be sure he wasn't just playing dead, "Thought they were cream-of-the-crop."

"Yeah, well PSICOM's an anti-Pulse task force. Haven't fought a war in centuries. Bunch of rookie troops swinging around over priced toys." Snow replied.

"So, what you're telling me, a regular ol' soldier got more training than special forces," The man looked over at Lightning.

"Nothing for us l'Cie to be afraid of-"

"Cut the crap," Lightning interuppted Snow, "Their grunts might be green, but PSICOM elites are cold blooded beasts. They hit the field and it's game-over."

"Oh-oh! Then let's run away! Ciao!" The girl with the pigtails pointed in the other direction, and ran.

The man followed after her, then the boy, then Snow.

I would've followed, but I knew something was bothering Lightning.

"Listen, let's just go along with him. At some point, he's going to be right, and you're just going to have to accept that!" I told her.

"He's an idiot, he's never going to be right. Was he right when he said he was going to protect Serah? No, he wasn't, so how could he be right about our Focus?" Lightning retorted.

"Please, just give him a chance!" I yelled back at her.

"No." She flat out told me, and headed in the direction the others went.

No. No. No. Is all she can say is no?

...

"Weird, isn't it? Of all the messed up ways to meet, might as well make introductions. I'm Snow..Snow Villiers," Snow started, "Short stuff?"

"Hope. Hope Estheim," the boy replied.

"What about her?" the girl with the pigtails pointed over at Lightning, who was no where near our conversation.

"Bodhum Secruity Regiment, goes by 'Lightning'. Last name's Farron, first? Anybody's guess. Although.." Snow looked over at me.

"Nope, I'm not telling you anything about her that you don't already know. I'm Faith Farron, nice to meet you!" I smiled, trying to hide the fact that I don't really want to smile.

"I'm Vanille," the girl with pigtails said.

"Sazh Katzroy, good to meet you," The man said, another thing I didn't know about him was that he had a baby chocobo with him!

Like Snow said, of all the messed up ways to meet. We all meet in the Vestige, get turned into l'Cie, now we are on a crystal lake.


	8. Chapter 8

…

A few PSICOM deaths and Treasure Spheres later

…

After a lot of walking around, we found one of the Purge trains that wasn't completely turned to debris.

"I wonder what else is down here to," Vanille said.

"I just hope everybody's okay," I sighed, and followed Lightning down the ramp.

Then, she just stopped.

"What's the matter, Lightning?" I asked, and then looked over to where she was staring at.

My eyed widened as big as my hands, I went to run over there, but Snow beat me to it.

I followed him, and she was okay! Crystal, but okay!

I took out my claw blades, and helped Snow dig Crystal Serah out of the crystal ground.

Vanille and Sazh joined in.

Only minutes later, I heard footsteps getting further and further away. I turned around, and Lightning was leaving!

"Sis! What are you doing?"

"You're just going to leave her?"

She stopped, "PSICOM will be here soon. If they find us, we're all dead. You think Serah would want that? You think you know how she feels, Snow?" She started to walk off again.

"If I leave her, then I'll never know," Snow said, which made Lightning stop again, "We'll be fine, I can handle anything they throw at us. No one will die. I will protect Serah, _and _Cocoon."

Lightning turned around, fury burning her eye sockets.

_Uh oh._

She walked, more like stomped, up to Snow, and smacked him hard, and he fell over on Sazh.

"Does she look protected to you?" Lightning asked him.

"I can save her!" Snow yelled, and stood back up.

Lightning smacked him again, and he fell over on Sazh again. "What more could you possibly do?"

"Lightning! Stop it!" I yelled at her, and walked to her, "Listen to me! Snow is right, he can protect her!"

"Shut up, Faith! He hasn't done us any good!" She yelled back at me.

I dropped my jaw, then closed it back right away. Did she just tell me to shut up? She's told me that plenty of times, but never like that.

I dropped my head, and walked back over to Serah.

Snow finally got back up, and went back to digging.

Sazh walked away, and muttered something about Lightning.

I sat down, had she really just yelled at me like that? I mean, I understood that she was mad, but was she really mad at me?

Then, Sazh started yelling.

We looked over, and a strobe light was flashing around him. Not to far, there was this huge scorpian robot!

Lightning had already unholstered her gun blade, and Vanille had got her Binding Rod out.

Everyone ran up there, and the thing jump down off the ledge, making Hope fall back.

I quickly ran over to him and helped him up.

"Stay back!" Snow yelled at me, Sazh, and Hope.

We did as told, and stayed out of the battle.

….

We just stood there, staring at crystal Serah.

'What are we going to do?' I thought, then I saw Lightning starting to leave again.

Snow ran in front of her, "You're leaving?"

"We want to help Serah too," Sazh sighed, "But without tools, we could be diggin' for days. Army's on our trail. For now, we've got to keep moving. For now."

"So I just abandon her and save myself?" Snow yelled.

"What about your Focus?" That caught Snow's attention.

"What happened to banding together and saving the world? Isn't that what you promised? Now you want to forget it all and die right here?" Lightning said, "Snow? You're nothing but talk." She walked off again.

"Lightning!" Snow stopped her, "I'll do whatever it takes. I'll finish this Focus, _and _keep Serah safe. That's my promise."

"Great job so far," and she walked off again, not stopping.

She wasn't sarcastic, she seriously meant that.

Sazh walked over to Snow and sighed.

Snow smiled, and told him, "Stay out of trouble."

Sazh patted him on the back, "You too."

Then it was just me, Vanille, and Hope. The youngest out of all of them, looking like little puppies with our sad faces.

"Get going," Snow told us.

Vanille left first, then Hope started to walk away, but came back.

"Snow," Hope started, but didn't finished.

"Save it for later, kiddo. You'll get left behind." Snow pointed at the others.

"But…"

"It's okay, Hope. Light'll take care of you. We'll meet again." Snow gave a small grin.

"Yeah, count on it," and he started to walked back off.

"Wait! Hope!" I ran over to him, got to his ear, and whispered, "Tell Lightning that I'll be with Snow. That I'll see her soon."

Hope just stared at me, then nodded his head, and ran off.

I ran over to Snow, "I'm staying with you. Don't argue, I want to stay with you and Serah."

"Lightning's going to be mad then," Snow said.

"Like I give a damn, I've made her mad before," I smiled, and he just laughed.

"Alright then, let's get digging!" Snow yelled, and I agreed. We ran over to Serah, and started digging again.

_Sorry, Lightning, but you're wrong. Serah's safe with Snow. You didn't even try._


	9. Chapter 9

It had been probably hours since we started digging, and no progress was made.

I stopped to take a break, my hands literally felt like they were just going to fall off. "Snow, I don't think we're going to be able-"

I was cut off by the sound of sky fleet, and a strobe light shining on us.

"_Sweep team to base. L'Cie spotted. I repeat, l'Cie spotted. Pulse l'Cie. Confirmed."_

Snow stopped, and yelled, "You gonna lend us a hand or what?"

PSICOM troops started pouring in.

"_Commencing clean up protocol."_

"Clean up? Well, let us help!" I yelled.

Snow threw his piece of sharp debris, and took out to soldiers.

Snow and I jumped down.

**Battle Commenced**

…

Afterbattle

…

We fought and fought, and more and more poured in. There were no end to them!

Snow fell over in defeat, and I was barely standing.

"Come on, Snow! We have to…stop them," I finally fell over, gasping for breath.

Snow's brand started to glow, and a huge orb grew above him.

"_What's he doing?"_

"_Watch yourself!"_

Snow and I slowly stood up, and the orb shattered. Inside the orb were two women.

_Eidolons?_

The two took out all of the soldiers that were there.

"What's happending?" Snow muttered.

The two turned towards us.

Turns out, they want to fight us!

…

Afterbattle

…

Snow fell over again in defeat, and I followed pursuit.

"The Twin Sisters," a woman in a blue sari walked over to us. "I gotta hand it to you for taking 'em down. But don't gloat just yet. Might come a time you you'd let 'em end it, and made things easy." She pointed her lance at Snow.

Quickly, I stood up and guarded him. But before I could get my claw blades back on my hands, she knocked me out.

…..

I woke up, and was in unfamiliar surroundings.

"Good morning, sunshine," It was that lady again!

I stood up, but Snow held me back.

"What are you doing? She's an enemy!" I yelled at him.

"Turns out, she's a Pulse l'Cie aswell," Snow said, "She's trying to help us, along with the rest of them."

I huffed, and sat back down. "Help? You knocked me out!"

"Sorry about that, but I didn't want you to go ballistic just like a second ago," She told me, "I'm Fang." She held her hand out to me.

I rolled my eyes, "Faith. How can I shake your hand? I have on handcuffs,"

"Right, well, you'll get out of those soon," Fang told me.

…

We boarded onto this…Lindblum airship.

We entered the area where everyone was.

"He's come to meet you," A soldier told Fang.

Walking towards was a man wearing a cloak, all of the soldiers saluted.

"Halt," one of them told me and Snow.

"You must be Snow and Faith," he started, "Cid Raines. Brigadier general of the fleet."

"Hello, Cid raines," I frowned.

"Thanks for the escort," Snow said, with an attitude.

Cid sighed, "Apologies. I just had a few questions to ask you two."

Some soldiers were bringing Serah in.

"If it works like they tell us, that means she fulfilled her Focus," Cid said.

"Serah!" Snow yelled, trying to get out of the soldiers' grip.

Fang put her arm up to his neck and stopped him.

"Fulfilled her Focus as a tainted Pulse l'Cie, that is." Cid said.

Snow was furious, "You think she was out to hurt Cocoon?"

I was getting angry as well, but I wasn't trying to lose my temper like Snow.

"I'd hardly be alone if I did," Cid walked closer to Snow, "When it comes to Pulse, who could claim to know anything? I need the truth, for the sake of Cocoon."

"The sake of Cocoon," Snow repeated, "We're from Cocoon! Shipping us out, Purging innocent people."

"Is that really how you want to lend us a hand?" I asked.

"No, those were the Sanctum's methods. The public fears what it doesn't know. It's grown tired of constant terror of these threats from the world below. So, the Sanctum devised a plan for you l'Cie." Cid replied.

"I'll bet," Snow muttered.

"A public execution," Cid told us.

My eyes widened in fear. _Execution?_

"The people don't know any better. Strike down the phantoms before their eyes, and they'll sleep like babies." Cid said.

Snow yelled in anger, and shoved the soldiers away, but Fang kicked him down.

"Snow!" I ran over to him, and knelt down.

Guns were pointed at us.

"The Sanctum has intelligence on the other l'Cie already. It's only a matter of time." Cid opened his stupid mouth again.

Snow groaned, "You'll never find them."

Cid sighed, "I see. We'll need you're help then, wont we?" He walked back off.

Fang walked over to me and Snow, but Snow turned over away from her.

I gave her a glare, and she walked off.


	10. Chapter 10

"Alright! Time to hunt some l'Cie!" Fang cheered, even if her face didn't.

I chuckled at her humor. Remember how angry I was at her earlier? Yeah, that's history now.

"So what, we find them and that's that?" Snow asked angrily.

"Don't get all hot and bothered," Fang told him.

I walked around while we waited, but stayed close to Snow and Fang. I have never been on an airship this big, even when me and Serah were allowed on the one's Lightning had worked in a couple times.

I though back to those times, when everything was okay. Or seemed okay, for that matter.

Then, an accented voice knocked me off my train of thought, "Oi! Faith! Time to get goin'!"

"_This is our chance! Do not let the l'Cie escape! I repeat, do not let the l'Cie escape!_" I heard the voice of no other, Cid Raines, on the loud intercom.

I hopped into a velocycle that was prepared for us for when we got out of the airship. It's not like there's actually room for the Lindblum to land in Palumpolum, so we'd have to fly down from the ship to land.

I sighed, '_Hope everything's going okay, Lightning. Are you worried?_'

Then it was time to fly off.

…

We had landed in Palumpolum. Chaos was everywhere: from residents running around in fear, to PSICOM shooting at every little thing!

"What's going on?" I yelled over the madness.

Fang pointed up, "There! Aren't those your friends?"

There was a huge news board building, and on the screen was Hope and Lightning! They were here!

A huge bundle of relief was growing inside me, but that ended when I figured it out. It wasn't because of us that this havoc was going on, it was because of **them**.

_Oh no_.

We quickly mazed through the swarms of people, and dead ahead of us were at least 4 PSICOM soldiers.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Fang throw something. _A bomb_?

Not just any bomb, a **smoke** bomb.

It exploded, more than I expected it to, and caused all the soldiers to fall over, gasping for clean oxygen.

That was our chance.

We ran over, Snow quickly getting rid of those few soldiers, and took out his Eidolith (I told you they were Eidolons!) and threw it in the air.

It bursted, and the two girls came twirling out of it.

Fang and I were staring at it like a theatre show, it was amazing seeing Eidolons in person like that.

Then, "Fang! Catch." Snow through his gun to Fang, and she caught it.

Snow jumped over the ledge, and landed on the Shiva bike. Fang and I quickly followed pursuit.

Snow sped through, Fang shot at every soldier she could, and I had cast every offensive spell I could think of.

_Fire, Water, Thunder, Aero. Fire, Water, Thunder, Aero._

I repeatedly did that order of spells until it was over.

We flew across Lightning and Hope's heads, and landed, doing a donut.

"Lightning!" Snow yelled, and I just imagined him doing his usual wink at her.

We hopped off the bike.

"Hey sis!" I smiled at her, but she wasn't pleased.

I knew she was angry at me and Snow, but mainly me.

She huffed, and almost literally threw Hope at Snow, "Take care of him," She said, and ran off.

I immediately chased after her, screaming "Sis! Wait up!"

…

Fang had followed after me and Lightning, and we stopped after Snow hadn't called in.

Fang growled lightly, "I'm going to give Snow a piece of my mind once we get to him." She took out the communicator, and called Snow.

He must've picked up, because once he did, Fang yelled, "You damn well know what's up!"

I winced, then gave a small laugh. I even saw Lightning smirk. _Looks like someone has kept their sense of humor all these years_.

"Why haven't you called in?" Fang yelled at Snow again.

I just kept smiling, swinging back and forth, "Snow's in trouble, Snow's in trouble." I said in sing-song, like a little 6 year old.

Fang then handed the communicator to me.

I put it up to my ear, "Yeah?"

"I heard that," Snow chuckled.

"You were supposed to!" I laughed, I ended up hearing him laugh louder than before.

"Alright, give it back. No more jokes." Fang rolled her eyes, and I handed it back to her.

She handed it over to Lightning.

I could tell Lightning was unsure about it, but Fang let her know it was alright.

"I'm not your sister," Lightning told him.

And then it's the usual Snow and Lightning conversation: Snow tells her something, Lightning disapproves, Snow tries to say it's a good plan, Lightning makes a comeback, and then it's all over.

But something made the line cut off, which made Lightning worry a bit.

"Don't worry, it's interference. You can chitchat when we get there," Fang told her, and grabbed the communicator.

"I've got point, you two fall in behind." Fang ordered, "and see if you can't cool off that head of yours," Fang pointed at Lightning.

….

We had finally found another area where we were safe, and took a break.

I plopped down and rested against the wall.

My legs ached.

My arms ached.

My back ached.

Everything ached.

"Who are you?" Lightning asked.

I jerked my head up, to see Lightning's gaze fall on Fang's brand.

Mentioning this, I remember her explaining everything to me and Snow, but I never really noticed how her brand looked.

It looked like it freezer-burnt for 5 years.

Fang ended up telling Lightning everything. From how she was in the War of Transgression, to waking up in the Vestige with Vanille and not remembering anything before she woke up.

"So, you're telling me that Serah will come back to life some day, too?" Lightning asked.

Fang nodded her head, "Yep. We didn't do our job right. That's why it made her a l'Cie." She sighed. "We messed up. Sorry."

I looked down. _So that's why she was a l'Cie_.

Lightning walked over to Fang, and I just knew something was going to happen. Something Lightning did always.

_**SLAP!**_

Fang took a hard blow to her jaw, so loud I saw bird fly off.

I winced when the vibrations reached my ears, as if I had felt the pain.

Fang rubbed her jaw, "That it?"

My jaw was agape, then I quickly closed it. She seriously didn't react as much as I thought she would.

"You sure better hope so," Lightning replied, "But whether we're square, that's up to Serah. And…" Lightning turned around, her eyes set on me.

I hesitated for a moment, she's really going to bring me into this, "It was an accident. Fal'Cie chose to make Serah a l'Cie, not Fang or Vanille. I understand."

"You know Lightning, you sound exactly like Snow," Fang said, "And _he _didn't hit me."

Well, _that _hit something.

"Wait, he already knows this?" Lightning asked.

"So does Faith."

I froze.

_Seriously, QUIT bringing me into the problem!_

Lightning shifted her glare towards me.

_Oh….shit._

But she just turned away.

_Thank you Maker! I'm not dying today!_

"Wow," Fang gave a sarcastic and dramatic gasp, "That's a load off." She stretched, "Glad I apologized."

Lightning turned to Fang, "You apologize so you'd feel better?"

"Guess so," Fang replied, "How about you? Feel better now that you hit me?"

Lightning scoffed, "It didn't change anything."

"Tell that to my jaw," Fang said, wincing as she rubbed her jaw. "And how do you feel, Faith, after getting put on the spot like that?"

I looked up at her, "You planned to do that?" I yelled softly at her.

"What can I say? You're easy to tease," Fang smirked.

I punched her in the arm, and she gave a small, fake yelp.

"Geez! Does hard fists run in your family or something?" Fang joked.

"Yup!" I told her, giving a 'that's-what-you-get' look.

….

We took stops at any time we could to make plans.

"Alright. Let's get Snow on the line," Fang said, and took the communicator back out.

She put it up to her ear, shook it a few times, and groaned, "Damn thing's still jammed."

"Let me see it," I took it, and thumped it a few times, and yelled at it to work. None of that helped. I handed it back to Fang.

Fang sighed, "Eh, he can take care of himself."

"We'll just have to believe that," Lightning…joked? I guess that was a joke, it made me chuckle, it has to be a joke.

"Hey, Fang," Lightning grabbed her attention.

Fang looked up from her sitting spot.

"The others are safe, right?" Lightning asked, "If any of us got caught, they'd make an announcement."

Fang crossed her legs, "Yeah they would. They'd have to let everyone know that the big, bad l'Cie can't hurt 'em no more. These Cocoon people-bunch of cowards and blowhards."

Lightning and I gave her a cold glare (Lightning's being colder than mine, of course).

"'These Cocoon people' have spent centuries under fal'Cie law, in constant fear of a Pulse invasion," Lightning explained, "If I weren't for Serah, I would've been out there too. Hunting l'Cie."

I frowned, "And I would've been just like the others, and wanted to get rid of that fal'Cie."

"Would've been nothing but targets to me," Lightning kept explaining.

"Well, Gran Pulse is just as twisted. 'Cocoon's a floating nest a vipers, waiting to strike.'" Fang looked down, "Or so I thought."

Then, it hit me, "So you had become a l'Cie, to fight thse 'vipers'?" I asked Fang.

"And destroying the nest is your-" Lightning paused, "I mean _our _Focus now."

_Woah_.

To mention it, I never thought of it. Being Pulse l'Cie, _protecting_ Cocoon? That's not right. Being Pulse l'Cie,_ destroying_ Cocoon? Much better.

No, not better. Worse, actually.

"Until we woke up here, we'd been in crystal stasis," Fang stood up, changing the subject, "Which means, we must've completed our first Focus." Fang sighed, "Why can't I remember that part? My childhood's clear as day. But the only thing I need-it's just gone. Blank. Like an empty page. I reach for the memory, and nothing's there.

Then, there's my brand. It's all messed up. Vanille and me, we lost our past and our Focus."

"So now, you want to find them both," I said, "Stay a Pulse l'Cie? Enemies of the 'viper's nest'?"

Fang stopped for a moment, then, "Pulse and Cocoon can rot for all I care. If I don't figure out our Focus soon, Vanille's gonna be a Cie'th. I'll tear down the sky if it'll save her."

Fang really loved Vanille, as if she were really her own sister.

_Her own sister_.

My gaze shifted onto Lightning some how, and Lightning was just stand there, staring at nothing.

I've never seen Lightning like this. _Ever_.

Obviously, something was struck in Lightning, and she wouldn't function like normal.

It was almost like, she was using emotions other than anger.

I felt bad, for both Fang and Lightning.

Funny, just a while back I was so furious with Lightning, now I'm feeling horrible about it.


	11. Chapter 11

Timeskip

…

Like I said before, we stopped anywhere possible, which makes like almost no where! Palumpolum is flooded with PSICOM!

"Hey guys," Fang said.

I looked up at her, "What's up?"

"Did any of you see Vanille's brand?" She asked.

I shook my head as Lightning told her no.

"No, huh?" Fang sighed solemnly.

I sat down again, my body _still _ached. All of this fighting and running around was starting to get to me, but I wasn't going to give up. Not yet, anyways.

Fang turned around and looked at us, and said, "Wanna know how it is until Cie'th City? Just look at your brand."

Lightning looked at her with an awkward look on her face. That made me wonder: Where _is _her brand?

Lightning turned from us and zipped down her undercoat. _Oh_.

I unbuttoned my sleeve, and looked over at my brand.

Honestly, I didn't have a clue what to look for. I just noticed it was slightly different, nothing to major. Although, it's on my shoulder, I can't get a good look at it.

"You start getting more arrows, then finally an eye. Once it opens all the way, you're done," Fang explained to us.

So **THAT'S **what I'm supposed to look for.

Fang walked over to Lightning, "Let's have a look."

Lightning mumbled an okay to Fang.

I mentally laughed, this was actually funny to see Lightning a little embarrassed.

"No where near, you've got time," Fang told her.

_Whew_.

"Okay, now for you," Fang pointed at me, and I stood up.

She examined my brand, and gave me a reassuring smile, "Same for you, except your sister's brand is a little more progressed."

"Why would that be? I mean, we've both been l'Cie for the same amount of time." I asked.

"Depends on how hard you push yourself. One nasty shock can really speed up the progress of your brand," Fang replied.

Well it's a good thing we have Fang, because if it wasn't for her I wouldn't know a single damn thing about ANY of this.

"Vanille's brand must be pretty far along by now, I gotta save her and get her home," Fang looked up to the sky.

Lightning walked around the small area, "To Pulse, you mean?"

I saw Fang roll her eyes, "To _Gran _Pulse," She corrected Lightning, "I hear the Sanctum prevents people from leaving Cocoon. I'd like to see them try and stop me."

"So, that's your plan? I wish I had one," Lightning sighed.

_What?_

"Sis, if this is about Serah, she's gonna wake up. You heard Fang, she and Vanille woke up!" I walked in front of Lightning and gave her a smile.

"But what going to happen before that? We still have a Focus of our own to finish," Lightning sighed, "Let's say we do topple the government. Where does that leave us? With nothing to fight for."

I looked down. She was right, if we did do what we had to do, wouldn't that still leave people hating us?

"We'll have nothing to fight for. Might as well be dead," Lightning said.

_Dead? Might as well be dead?_

I mean, I could hear that coming out of my mouth, but coming out of _Light's _mouth?

What's gotten into her?

"Serah," I heard Fang say.

Both me and Lightning jerked our heads up at her.

"You've got plenty to fight for, both of you. Think about it. Don't you want to see her, when she wakes up?" Fang asked, "_That_ is your future right there. All you've gotta do is survive." She chuckled, "It's simple!"

"Right," Light and I said at the same time. We looked at each other, and I actually laughed myself.

Then, there was a familiar sound above us. _Skyfleet!_

Wait, the way they were headed…

"Snow," Lightning whispered.

"They found 'em," Fang said.

An explosion erupted.

_Oh Maker, please let those two be okay._

We ran as fast as we could in that direction.

…..

I huffed as I ran. I heard my heartbeat in my ears. I pumped my legs. I almost slipped on every sharp turn.

I've never been this overwhelmed in my life.

But this was Snow and Hope, two people we needed for our Focus, and two friends that I cared about.

In the distance, I saw a huge orange robot, and a figure with platinum colored hair. _Hope._

We reached him.

"Not bad, kid!" Fang complimented him.

"Where's Snow?" Light asked.

Hope looked over at her, "He's okay!"

Fang readied her lance, "Sure your up to this?"

Lightning and I got our weapons out, "Thing'll never know what hit it!"

**Battle Commenced.**

…

Afterbattle

…

The battle was over, and I was just gasping for air.

"The thing could've at least went easy on us!" I complained, but laughed at the same time.

Fang walked over to a limp Snow on the ground.

I ran over to Snow, and examined him.

"Well, seeing that Hope is all in one piece, Snow shouldn't be that bad off," I said.

Fang nodded her head in a agreement, then looked up at the other two, "Don't forget about this one."

Fang and I lifted Snow up slightly, he was a heavy man, that's for sure.

"That one will be alright," Lightning said, "He's too stubborn to die." A ghost smile appeared on Lightning face for a second, but long enough for me to notice.

I smiled at her comment, and watched as she lifted Snow's arm onto her shoulder.

I put Snow's other arm on my shoulder, and we walked all the way to Felix Heights.

…..We'd finally reached Hope's house.

In front of his house was a little sign that said 'Estheim Residence'.

Hope's front yard was circular, with a small garden in the middle, and a larger garden surrounding it.

You could see almost all of Palumpolum from his house.

Hope rang the doorbell, and the door was quickly slid open.

A man, who must've been his father, was at the door, "Hope!" He looked so tired, but happy to see Hope.

"Mom's gone," Hope told him.

_Gone?_ I didn't know his mother was dead.

…..

Mr. Estheim let us in. He led Lightning to the guest room to bandage up Snow.

Fang and I went into the main living room, and turned on the T.V.

I sat down, and watched the news that was on. Just a bunch more crap about us, no biggie.

"Must be the kid's family," Fang said, and pointed at a picture in a frame.

I looked over at it. I saw Hope, Mr. Estheim, and…her!

I remember her! She was the woman who saved Snow from getting a nuke launched into him.

I felt guilty. I didn't know that was _Hope_'s mother.

Maybe that's why Hope was wanting to talk to Snow a while back.

"Hey," Lightning walked in, "Meeting in the front room."

I looked at the picture for another second, then followed Fang and Light into the room.

…..

It was quiet.

Not that peaceful quiet that you'll hear at a park.

Not that quiet teachers like once her students have shut up.

No, this was the quiet you'd _never_ want to be in. This is the quiet you'd hear at a funeral.

Snow stood up from his chair, and got down on his knees. "The blame is mine. I couldn't save her."

Mr. Estheim rested his head on his hand.

Hope spoke up, "If it weren't for Snow. I wouldn't be here right now."

Well that changed the course.

"Snow," Mr. Estheim said, "Did Nora…Did she say anything to you?"

Nora? But isn't that the name of Snow's group? What a major coincidence.

"Hope. She said to get him home," Snow replied.

"And that's exactly what you've done," Mr. Estheim said.

I sighed in relief, along with the others. The mood had lightened up, which is a good thing.

"Face to face like this, it's hard to believe you're all dangerous fugitives. The entire world is scared to death of you l'Cie. No, not even just you. People who've helped you, bumped into you. Sometimes it's people who've just walked by you. They think their 'tainted' any want everyone of them Purged." Mr. Estheim explained.

"The Sanctum's a puppet of the fal'Cie!" Snow was raged, "To them, our lives don't mean anything at all." Moment of silence. "We'll stop this. Take down the Sanctum, _and_ save Cocoon."

Another moment of silence.

"You thought that through?" Mr. Estheim asked.

That sort of brought Snow's hopes down.

"If l'Cie take down the Sanctum, fear of Pulse will only get worse. It wont stop at fear, people will take arms and stand against you. Can you imagine it? The rampant violence?" Mr. Estheim explained.

Lightning spoke up, "When the government's control is gone, the citizens will revolt."

Fang stood up, "So what then? We're supposed to just smile and eat a bullet? That means you too," Fang pointed at Mr. Estheim.

Mr. Estheim gave a chuckle, "I know I'm part of this. I'm on your side of the fence. Harborer of l'Cie, a public enemy."

Again, that silence was there. Not as long as before, but that doesn't make it any better.

"Coming here was a bad idea," Hope said.

Mr. Estheim put his hand on Hope's shoulder, "This is your home," and he stood up, "We're all here. Let's figure this out."

Then, the electricity went out.

The rest of us stood up.

"Oh, well this is great!" I yelled sarcastically.

Then, "Heads up!" Lightning yelled.

Right after she said that, the ceiling window broke, and smoke bombs were dropped. Soldiers broke threw the other windows once the bombs went off.

Snow yelled something to Hope, I didn't understand what he said over the smoke and wheezing and beating up soldiers.

I could barely see anything, and I tripped over something.

I got up as fast as I could, and then I heard something. A bullet came flying across my face, and went into the wall beside me.

I yelped, and someone grabbed my arm, "Come on!" It was Fang.

The smoke started to fade off, and we could actually see what we were doing.

…..

After fighting off what soldiers were in the room, we hid beside the broken windows, and waited for more.

I looked outside, and there were more than I expected!

"Who ordered the battalion?" Fang wondered.

"They'll take out the whole building next," Lightning said, and looked over. She did a hand signal for Mr. Estheim and Snow to come back.

Hope and Mr. Estheim greeted each other again while we kept look out.

Snow came over, "My turn." He took his coat off, and stood by the window.

_Okay, what the hell is he doing?_

He shown his jacket to those soldiers, and they shot like crazy at it.

"Don't shoot!" He yelled at them, "I'll show you what a l'Cie looks like!" and they stopped shooting.

He put his hands up, and walked out there.

"Snow! What are you-?" Lightning shushed me, and I was silent.

I heard him yelling at the soldiers, but then there was another voice.

The man said his name was Yaag.

Oh, I've heard of him. And I didn't like him one bit, either.

He just kept blabbering about the nonsense of Pulse and Cocoon.

Then, that word again.

_Execution._

After that, there was the clanking of metal being dropped.

There was yelling, then smoke, then wheezing.

I heard bombs exploding and guns shooting.

Lightning stood up, "We're leaving! Hope, tie up your dad. We threatened you and forced you to help us. Got it?"

Hope nodded his head, but Mr. Estheim didn't understand. Hope talked him into doing it.

"Come on! We have to go!" I yelled, and we ran out there.

A huge Skytank was out there.

Snow was out there, wheezing and coughing because of the smoke.

"Lay low, Snow. You gotta stay alive for Serah!" I told him, and ran up with the others.

**Battle Commenced**.


	12. Chapter 12

Afterbattle

….

I was starting to get really bored with this.

Let me explain, we had gotten rid of the first ship. No biggie.

Then, here comes in this other one. Slight biggie.

But, another one comes in and takes that one out. They're on our side! Until they come down, then it's panicking time.

It flies down, and a door opens.

Soldiers come running out in a line.

_What on Earth is going on?_

Another soldier comes out, "Heya Fang!" He pulls his face mask off, "Need a ride?"

Fang chuckled, "Don't get cute. Right, lets move it!" Fang walks towards the Skytank.

I let out a sigh of relief. Then, I hear faint wheezing behind me.

I turn around, and Snow's there.

_Almost forgot about him_.

I raise an eyebrow, and he gives a thumbs up.

_Yup, he's alright_.

"Come on, tough guy," I patted him on the back while he coughed.

"What I miss?" He joked.

"Oh, nothing major. Just a few nukes and protect spells, nothing we couldn't handle," We laughed.

…

While we were getting ready to be put on the Palamecia, we watched the recent news on Vanille and Sazh.

They got captured, and that's where they were.

One more, small detail. Cid actually isn't as bad as he led to be. In fact, he _wanted_ to help us, but just didn't want certain to people to understand.

"So, pretty much, they want to taunt us. They want us to walk in there, begging for our friends. Then, they'll capture us as well. Pretty good plan, actually," I said, "But, too bad we already know about it." I smirked.

There were some good things about being a l'Cie, it means you are a higher power than the rest. Plus, magic was so awesome to use.

"Yes, that's your opportunity," Cid replied.

Then, the announcer lady said something about the Primarch being aboard on the Palamecia.

I jaw almost dropped. _The _Primarch?

I've always wanted to meet him, when I was younger. Then, becoming a l'Cie, I still want to meet him…just to smash his face in.

"Well, if they're daring us to mount a rescue, I'll take that action. All in," Snow said.

Rygdea turned to face us, "All righty, all bets are on the table. We'll leave when you're ready. I'll be standing by."

…

This gave me time to soak this all in.

But, I still didn't.

Honestly, this is flying over my head.

And, I know that soon it's going to hit me like a Frisbee.

All I believe, all I _want _to believe, is that we're l'Cie. L'Cie are enemies, depending on which world you're from.

And, I'm still being completely honest, it hasn't affected me as much as it has the others, I believe.

For a 16 year old girl, this would be surprising. Saying most 16 year old girls get upset over little things.

And I haven't gotten upset once this entire time. I guess I'm just weird like that.

But, like I said before, it's going to hit me when I least expect it to, and I'm going to be down in the dumps, and that'll weaken the rest of us.

….

"This baby back here is a PSICOM vessel," Rygdea pointed at an Airship, "It'll deliver you to the Palamecia

"Oh, so we're cargo now?" Snow joked.

Rygdea gave a sarcastic sigh, "A parting gift to our rotting government. Tear those PSICOM guys apart."

"And we're supposed to take out all of them? I think the whole division's on board," Lightning crossed her arms, not sounding very Lightning-y.

"I don't care how many lackeys they got. Vanille's in there. Bring em' on!" Fang said.

Hope voice came in, "I'm sure she's fine. Vanille's tougher than I'd ever be."

Lightning turned around to him, "Hope, are you scared?"

"Yeah, I'm terrified," Hope gave a light chuckle, "But I'll be okay. Because I've got you," he pointed at Lightning, "And this guy," Snow, "And Fang and Faith."

"Right, enough with the bonding. It's go time." Rygdea said, and headed towards the vessel.

Snow put his hefty arm on Hope's shoulder, "What do you mean 'this guy'?"

I poked him, "And why was I dead last?"

….

"Yo! Rygdea! Have you gotten our ticket inside granted yet?" I yelled from the back of the airship.

He shushed me, "You want the guy to hear ya? I almost got a hold of him!"

"Well hurry the hell up!" Fang complained.

It had been Maker knows how long since we tried to get this guy to access us onto the Palamecia.

I'm not the one to be patient.

"Alrighty! Here we go!" Rygdea cheered.

I sighed, and muttered, "About freaking time."

….

He dropped us off, and we waved back at him.

"_Code Red. Repeat: Code Red!_" Yelled the intercom announcer.

_Uh, oh._

Many soldiers formed in groups and came out from the inside.

"Alright. Let's tear em' up!"

"We're here for Vanille and Sazh, stay focused!"

**Battle Commenced**.

….

Afterbattle

….

After we finished that wave, another one came in.

"Looks like they wanna play!" Fang yelled.

"Where we headed?" I asked.

She pointed up a column, "Right up there."

And we headed for it.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Author's note:**_

_**Hey guys, it's TSOH. I know this chapter is a little late, but I've been really busy writing other stuff and doing school. I've worked on this chapter since the last one was posted. Sometimes I could only get like 10 words written before I had to do something else. But I have a free weekend, so I can write! I might post another chapter, but it depends. Oh and xxx-wings-xxx, Faith will soon be drawn and posted on dA. Anyways, enjoy!**_

We had gotten to the outer area of the Palamecia.

Of course, since we're in the air, it's going to be _way_ in the air.

I looked down, bad idea.

I heard Fang yell something, but the winds were so hard and loud I couldn't hear her.

"What?" I yelled.

"I just said don't look down, crazy!" Fang yelled back.

"Oh, well thanks a lot!" I sarcastically yelled.

…

Finally, we made it back inside.

We hid behind a wall, because there was a corridor beside it.

"Let us through! Block our way, you die!" Snow yelled.

Fang grabbed him by his shoulder, "You _trying_ to get 'em angry?"

"Thought maybe they'd run. There's been enough blood spilled already," Snow replied.

Lightning sighed, "You though they'd run away? Let me refresh you're memory. Those soldiers think they're protecting Cocoon from l'Cie. The fal'Cie have them all brainwashed."

"Fal'Cie," Snow punched the wall, "I've had it! We cannot let this go on."

A screen lit up beside us.

"_Attention all crew: Code green. I repeat: Code green. Security forces stand by. Hostile forces on stand by. Code green."_

…

After a few corridors later, the screens light up again.

"_Code purple! I repeat: Code purple! Security breach! All units on alert. Code purple!"_

"All these colors. What's it mean?" Hope asked.

"Mean's we're doing our job right. Making a lot of PSICOM guys nervous," Fang replied.

Something shook the ship.

"Wait, who are they fighting down there?" I asked, panicked.

I heard Fang mumble something, but it wasn't loud enough for me to understand.

"Isn't it obvious? What other people are here?" Hope told me.

_Vanille and Sazh!_

…

After making our way through the middle of the ship, we got back outside on the weather deck.

But something was off. Literally.

"The wind, it's dying down," Hope stated.

"Yeah, it's stopping," Lightning said, "And _we're_ decelerating. They up to something?"

"I don't supposed it could just be-I don't know-Good luck?" Snow asked.

Then, Vespids came out of the ground.

"That looks a lot more like bad luck," Fang sighed.

"You've got a point," Snow said, scratching his head.

Lightning crossed her arms, "Not to me. That? That we can do something about."

…

And yes, we did do something about it. We pretty much cleared off the weather deck as much as we could, but we came across something we haven't fought yet.

It flew up, and headed in our direction.

"So, Light, how do you figure this makes up lucky?" Fang asked.

"Because, when we kill it, we're one step closer to Vanille. How's that?" Lightning replied.

"Well, when you put it that way," Fang said.

"Let's do this!" I yelled.

**Battle Commenced**

…

Afterbattle

…

The thing fell over, and slipped off the deck.

But only seconds later, another came up.

"One big fat stroke of luck after another. So happy, I could cry," Snow joked.

I smirked, "You got that right."

It then flew above and past us. What was it doing?

"Stop that! You want to fight, then get down here!" I yelled.

After that, something blew up next to us.

There was a smoking, gaping hole in the wall.

I saw a puff of yellow fly out of it.

The chocobo?

I took another good look.

Sazh and Vanille!

_**Ending Author's Note:**_

_**Okay, so I got no where and somewhere at the same time in this chapter. It's short, but like I said at the beginning, I'm busy. Once I get a little more time today, I'll write more for the next chapter and post it. Thanks for reading!**_

_**-TSOH**_


	14. Chapter 14

"Vanille!"

"Fang!"

The two smiled and ran to each other.

I then looked up, and there was the monster!

"There you are," Snow said, looking at it as well.

"Miss me?" Sazh joked.

"No, not you! That!" I yelled, pointing upwards.

"What? Where?"

It flew back down.

**Battle Commenced.**

…

Afterbattle

…

When it was over, that one slid off the airship as well.

Fang and Vanille reunited again.

The two acted like they were sisters.

I looked over to Lightning, who was looking at those two.

Fang then turned Vanille around, and lifted her skirt a bit. I knew she was checking her brand, since Vanille couldn't.

Hope, Snow, and Sazh laughed awkwardly and turned away. I followed pursuit, and Lightning did too. _**(Without the laughing part, of course.)**_

I heard Fang mumble something to Vanille about her brand, and I turned back around to see them hugging again.

They really haven't seen each other for a while.

"What's wrong?" Snow asked.

I turned my head over to see Hope, Lightning, and Snow looking at Sazh.

He did seem kind of down.

"What? Oh, nothing," Sazh held his arms up in defense. "So, what's on the agenda?"

"Toppling the Sanctum," Snow said, putting his fist in him other hand.

"No, I mean really," Sazh replied.

"We _really_ mean it," I told him with a serious tone.

Lightning crossed her arms. "Yeah. We're gonna take down the Sanctum and give Cocoon back to the people. The fal'Cie have called the shots for long enough."

"If we pull this off, it'll be a miracle," Hope added.

Fang tapped her lance on the ground. "Well, good thing Lady Luck's on our side."

But then, in the distance, we heard wings flapping. _There went our joyful moment_.

About three to four of those bird things flew above us.

"More?" I complained. "Come on! We just got rid of two!"

"Check this out. A miracle-Gran Pulse Style!" Fang and Vanille ran up.

"Go fish!" Fang pointed up to one.

"Got it!" Vanille replied, and shot out the strings in her Binding Rod at it.

Fang ran, and jumped high in the air.

I lost sight of her, but when I saw her again, she landed on the thing with her lance stabbed in it's back.

"Alright!" Fang yelled at us.

Vanille turned and smiled. "Let's get on!"

We all ran to it, and got aboard.

…

It wasn't the best the ride ever, but it was good enough to get around.

"Believe in Lady Luck now?" Fang yelled at us over the high wind.

"Yeah, Lady _Bad _Luck!" Sazh replied, while hanging on to the back.

"Time to Purge a Primarch!" Snow yelled.

I chuckled. "You know it!"

Before I knew it, they were shooting at us!

The bird thing was getting shots taking at it.

It cawed as Lightning did a thunder strike to make a huge opening on the ship.

"Jump!" She yelled, and we did as told.

…

Rough landing. I was getting used to it, though.

I landed on Snow, again.

I got up with Lightning's help.

She pointed to a door at the other end of the room we were in. "Dysley's through there."

…

TimeSkip

…

The room did have reinforcements everywhere, but we cleared them out by the time we made it to the door.

We ran in, and past the corridor, we found him.

Sazh yelled, "We've been looking for you, Nabaat!"

Nabaat jumped down, and landed in front of us. "Your Eminence. Please escape, I'll cover your retreat." She pointed her baton at us.

"Why don't you leave, Jihl? Or perhaps, take your leave? Humans have no business here," Dysley said.

I saw Nabaat's eyes widen. "What? Your Eminence-!" She cried out as a white orb was driven into her back, and she fell down.

_What? What was that? Was that…?_

"Magic?" Sazh yelled.

Dysley floated upwards, his staff in the air with more of those white orbs floating around it. The white orbs shot out, hitting every worker that was in the room.

"Stop!" I yelled at him as he killed each of those people.

He then shot more of the white orbs, making the ceiling fade with them.

"Monster! People are not yours to use!" Snow yelled.

Dysley floated back down. "What else does one do with tools?"

Snow ran up to him, went to hit, but a protective force around Dysley knocked Snow back to the ground.

"Snow!" Hope and I kneeled down to be sure he was alright.

"Cocoon is a factory, build by fal'Cie. A factory for the mass production of human thralls," Dysley said.

Snow got back up. "Not anymore, it's not."

An owl-like bird flew down and landed on Dysley's staff. "What can mere men do? Without our help, death is all of which you are capable of. You saw the fools. A mindless mob drunk on fear of a few l'Cie."

Lightning pointed her sword at him. "If only they knew a l'Cie was the one filling their glasses!"

"L'Cie?" He chuckled. "You mean me? Oh child, perish the though." He floated into the air again. "I am much more than that!" He glowed, and a bright light blinded us.

When I looked back up from shielding my eyes, a huge monster took the place of the Primarch.

"I am fal'Cie." A deeper, evil voice took the place of his normal one. "My name is Barthandelus." He slammed his over sized claw-like hands into the ground, causing it to shake. "Voice of the Sanctum, and Lord-Sovereign of the Cocoon fal'Cie." His faceplate opened, and we saw the face of him and four other faces. "Your kind feared the darkness, so we gave you light. You begged us for the Purge, and did it not come to pass? Now you spurn our counsel? You must learn your place!" He commanded at us.

I hadn't even gotten my claw blades out by the time he did his first attack. I was in shock of what was before me.

Sure, I've seen a fal'Cie before. But this one scared me.

Who I thought was taking care of our home was really our enemy.

Barthandelus.

**Battle Commenced.**


	15. Chapter 15

…

Afterbattle

…

Barthandelus had finally fallen over in defeat, and faded away.

"A fal'Cie running the Sanctum," Snow stated.

"Then, I guess it wasn't Eden controlling things after all," Hope said as well.

"As I said," Dysley's voice boomed.

I covered my ears right away, yet I could still hear him.

"I am Lord-Sovereign." He reappeared and floated down.

"Guess fal'Cie don't go down as easily as the rest of us," Sazh implied.

Dysley narrowed his eyes at us. "Ease is not the issue. You have not fought to win." He touched ground. "You should know quite well already the sure way of dispatching our kind." Dysley raised up his staff. "Ragnarok."

Fang's voice came in. "What's Ragnarok?" She then grunted in pain, and clutched her brand.

"Pitiful l'Cie. You've forgotten your Focus." Dysley pointed at each of us. "Ragnarok is the beast one of you must become to lay waste on Cocoon."

I furrowed my brows and narrowed my eyes on him, being sure he wasn't trying anything funny.

"You have had the dream. One among you," He appeared behind Fang. "Will become that monstrosity," Then behind Hope. "Defeat Orphan," Then me. "And destroy Cocoon." He appeared behind Lightning. Disappeared, and reappeared in front of us.

"Orphan?" Fang asked.

Dysley turned around. "The font of Eden's power. Orphan fuels Eden with strength, and Eden in turn sustains you and the rest of our kind. Destroy Orphan, and you'll release a force such as this word has never seen. Cocoon will be torn asunder."

I didn't like this.

I saw Fang stand up. "So if I did that, destroyed Orphan-"

Dysley appeared in front of Fang. "Your Focus will be fulfilled."

Lightning quickly took out her gun blade and tried to slash Dysley, but he disappeared and reappeared in front of us.

"Who says it has to be?" Lightning asked.

Snow walked up, and raised Serah's tear. "Serah asked us to save Cocoon before she turned to crystal. Save it, and that's what we're going to do."

"If she turned to crystal _because_ she told us to save Cocoon, then that means she completed her Focus! And that's our Fo-"

Dysley laughed before I could finish.

"Allow me to help you see the truth of things, young child." He looked at me like I was stupid.

I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes.

"The moment you arrived, your friend wept crystal tears. This was because her Focus required that you be brought together. That girl did nothing but assemble the tools for Cocoon's destruction." Dysley then finished.

My mouth was agape. That couldn't be true!

"Did it never occur to you? Or did you simply refuse to countenance the thought?"

I went with the second one.

The Palamecia started to shake and rumble.

"If you will not face the truth, then face the peril of your plight!" Dysley raised up his staff, and that bird flew down.

But the bird grew bigger, until it turned into an airship.

Dysley glowed and floated up. "Run, l'Cie! See how stark reality is!"

I looked up, and the Palamecia shook again.

"Come on!" Lightning yelled, and ran towards the airship the bird turned into.

We followed her.

…

We flew out of the Palamecia. Good thing we got out when we did, it was falling.

"This is bad! The yoke's jammed!" Sazh yelled.

"What?"

"I knew this was a trap!"

"Oh, no."

"Something's coming!" Hope yelled.

I looked up out of the window, and he was right.

Another airship was headed our way.

That airship had rockets come out, and they flew towards us.

Our airship dodged them, but not very gracefully.

"Hang on!"

And our airship shot at the other one, but that one flew up above us.

I looked over, and rockets were right there!

But, we didn't get hit. Something was blocking them from hurting us.

"The hell kind of ship is this? Fighting on it's own?" Sazh questioned.

Then, the ship started taking shots.

"Can't we do something?" Hope yelled.

"Got me! I give up!" Sazh replied.

Our airship swerved, and I fell out of my seat and was thrown to the back.

I yelled, and tried to get up, but the ship wasn't leveled to where I could stay up.

The airship ended up flying smoothly.

I stood up, and walked back to the front.

We made it into a city. Obviously somewhere I didn't really recognized.

Vanille turned around to look ahead, and gasped. "Sazh, look out!"

We turned around, and we were headed into a building!

Everything went dark, but I wasn't unconscious.

At least for the first few minutes, and I then fainted.

…

I woke up, and looked around.

I heard someone groan. Sounded like Fang. "Is everyone alright?"

I nodded, and stood up with everyone else.

"Where are we?" Lightning asked.

"Looks like a piece of Pulse," Vanille replied.

"Wait, Pulse? So this is like the Bodhum Vestige?" I asked. "A piece of Pulse, this close to Eden?"

Fang put her hands on her hips. "Yeah, well what I don't understand is, after the Purge, and all that l'Cie paranoia, why keep a chunk of Pulse under the floorboards?"

"Is this what the Primarch wanted us to see?" Hope asked.

I heard Lightning sigh. "A place for l'Cie to accept their fate."

"Do you really think our Focus is what Dysley said it is?" Hope questioned again.

"I really hope not," I mumbled.

"You mean become Ragnarok," Vanille's voice chimed in.

"Destroy the fal'Cie Eden, and shatter Cocoon," Sazh added. "That's what the vision is telling us, more or less."

"And now, we are all the way back to square one. So much for our luck." I sat down, leaning against a pillar.

Vanille turned around to Snow, who was leaning against the other side of the pillar. "Mr. Hero! Cocoon calling Snow!"

Snow didn't respond.

Vanille turned back to the others.

"It's almost like Dysley wants it to come true," Hope said.

"Seems that way," Sazh replied. "He sure didn't mind explaining it. 'Here's your Focus on a silver platter.'"

I smirked.

"But, that doesn't make sense. I don't get it," Vanille said, tilting her head.

"Exactly! Why would one of our fal'Cie want to destroy Cocoon?" I questioned.

"Maybe it's a fal'Cie thing," Hope came in. "You know what I mean? Just some grand design we don't understand."

I sighed, and stood back up.

"Hey Snow," Fang called. "Nothing from you?"

Snow didn't respond that time either.

Fang sighed and shook her head.

The rest of them started walking.

I went to follow, but I noticed neither Lightning nor Snow were following.

I walked back over to Snow. "I know why you're down. But, do you really think Dysley was telling the truth? I mean, he has been manipulating everybody else."

Snow didn't even look at me.

I turned around to Lightning, and she shrugged her shoulders.

I hated seeing Snow like this. He usually is always in an upbeat mood. Wanting to make everyone else happy. But, since Dysley said that about Serah, Snow was upset.

I couldn't blame him, though. What Dysley said seemed so true, even though I knew it wasn't. I knew Serah wouldn't do that. Even if it was her Focus.

I was going to straighten this out. Somehow. I promised Serah.


	16. Chapter 16

**_Author's note: Haider guys! It's The Simplest of Hearts, aka Mckensy! I know this is a short chapter, but I really have writer's block! But, I drew Faith! Here's the link: tonberryownage13(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Faith-Farron-Triple-Farron-273379960. Please look at it! You'll now know what she looks like! NOW, ONTO ZE STOREH!_**

...

"Hey, uh, I've got to apologize. To the both of you," Snow said, sitting against a wall.

We ended up following the others after Snow finally decided to.

"It looks like I was wrong," He continued.

"About Serah's Focus?" Lightning crossed her arms. "Not like you to second guess yourself."

Snow scratched the back of his head. "Well, even heroes make mistakes."

I walked over, and sat next to him.

…

"What about your big plan? You know, the plan where you save Cocoon?" I asked.

Lightning paced slowly. "Either way, your faith in Serah was strong. That strength got you this far."

"It was all wrong-"

"Yeah. You tried so hard to convince us that you fooled yourself. You've been a total idiot-"

"Light!" I warned her, but I didn't keep a straight face. It was kind of true, and kind of funny.

She smiled. "But still, it saved me."

I smiled too. "And me."

"You trusted Serah. Let that drive you. It even made me want to believe." And with that, Lightning went ahead.

I patted Snow's back. "Thanks to you, I never gave up. And if Light says that you made her not give up, then that means you must've been doing something right."

He looked up, and gave a small grin.

I smiled back, and went with Lightning.

…

We caught up with the others.

We made it to this huge part. There were these tower-like pillars. I had no clue what they were for.

"I can't believe we're still on Cocoon," Hope stated.

"It's kind of creepy," Sazh said.

"You've got that right." I looked around the place. Nothing at all seemed familiar.

Then, the ground glowed, and a huge Pulse brand lit up the floor.

The floor glowed red again, and a sharp pain came in through my brand.

I gasped in pain, and clutched it. _What was going on?_

But it wasn't just me, it was affecting the others as well.

The glow faded, and so did the pain.

The pillars had doors, and they opened. But, they let out some Pulse automata.

"This thing used us to power up those?" I questioned, getting my claw blades ready.

"Seems like it!" Fang replied.

**Battle Commenced.**

…

Afterbattle

…

After we finished them off, we found our way through more of this 'piece of Pulse'.

"This place," Vanille started. "It must be an ark."

"An ark?" Lightning asked.

Fang turned to us. "That's what they called 'em."

"Long ago, the fal'Cie who made their own home on Gran Pulse were afraid of invasion from the outside." Vanille paused. "As part of their battle preparations, they created an army of living weapons. And they stored those weapons in Arks, and they hid the Arks all over the world."

"Everyone on Gran Pulse knew the legend," Fang stated.

"So, this would be pretty much a Pulse armory?" I asked, scanning the Ark.

Fang nodded. "Most of us never believe in 'em. Afew people tried searching, but never found a thing. Who would've thought to look on Cocoon?"

"Right under our noses." I heard Sazh's voice come in. "That's some secret they kept. Those Sanctum guys, what are they up to?"

"They story's not done." Vanille's voice chimed. "There's more."

"They used to the say that the Arks had a more practical purpose," Fang implied.

"Huh, really?"

"Yeah, to force l'Cie to master their shiny new powers," She replied.

I saw Lightning cross her arms. "Okay, so I get it. Dysley's goal is to forge us into stronger new weapons. Right."

Sazh added on. "Not Cie'th, but monsters all the same. "

"Think of it as training for the fight ahead," Hope said.

"Hope's right!" Vanille cheered.

Then, the ground started to shake again.

One of those pillars opened again, and it, too, had Pulse Automata.

"Aw, these guys again."

"Fun times."

"Over there!" Hope pointed. "We've got to keep moving!" And he ran in that direction.

We followed after.


	17. Chapter 17

TimeSkip

…

I had no clue that an Ark was so huge! We've been walking around for so long that, at least to me, it's felt like days! Although, it probably has.

We had found, according to Fang, a 'Hibernatorium'. It had held these Automata that looked the size of two houses! And they were _alive_.

Carefully, we walked through, trying not to wake them up.

We failed horribly.

Two of the four Automata woke up, and we had to fight them.

**Battle Commenced.**

…

Turns out, they aren't to hard to defeat. And the two we woke up were the only alive ones. The other two must've not been activated, _yet._

At the other end of the room, there was another door. It slid open, and we walked in. Lightning activated the lift, and we went down.

"At least we shouldn't run into PSICOM here," Lightning stated.

"Let's only hope." I sighed.

The lift stopped, and we went into another room.

To the left, there was this long passageway. We went down it, and took another left and another passageway.

_This ark is like a maze. _I thought. Everything looked the same. I almost thought we in a circle at first. But there were writing on the walls that were different each time. Not that I could read them, since they were in Pulsian.

I asked Vanille what the writing meant.

"They're numbers," She answered. "That one over there is a three, which must mean we're on the third floor."

Ah. Once she told me that, I could tell what it was.

…

Finally, we made it through, and found a passageway that was different from the rest.

Going through it, it led to the outside.

I squinted my eyes, noticing a figure of a person. A familiar one, at that.

_Cid?_

He walked forward as we got closer.

Something about him seemed different, I could sense it.

"Raines?" I heard Snow mumble.

That different feeling I got from him, it wasn't good.

The others mumbled 'What?' and 'Who is that?'

Snow turned to us. "Woah, easy guys. It's alright. Raines." Snow pointed at him. "Is a Sanctum officer. He's been helping us out-"

Fang put a hand out in front of Snow, stopping him. "Why are you here?"

I looked over, and in a flash, Lightning took out her gun blade and was charging at Cid. "You traitor!" She yelled, and slashed at him.

Cid dodged it.

Lightning tried to slash at him again, but Cid caught her arm, and flipped her back to us.

Her gun blade went flying in the air as she did. Lightning landed on her side with a grunt.

"Sis!" I ran over to her.

Cid caught the gun blade. His right hand glowed. "I put you on the path, that was my Focus."

I heard a few gasps.

"You're a l'Cie?" Fang asked.

"Since long before we met," Cid paused. "I did my best to assist you, as bid by the Sanctum fal'Cie. Now do you understand?"

Lightning sat up as we listened to Cid's words.

"The fal'Cie have watched over you, guiding your every step. The 'luck' that saved you time and again was a deliberate machination. Why, you may ask? The Primarch-Or should I say, Barthandelus-is crafting you into the instruments of Cocoon's demise," Cid resumed.

Fang 'tched'. "We've been played for fools."

"A Cocoon fal'Cie? Why?" Sazh asked.

Cid raised Lightning's gun blade. "Why? To restore the Maker."

"The Maker?" Hope's voice joined.

"The entity responsible for creating both humans and fal'Cie," Cid replied.

"Long ago, the Maker departed this world, leaving the two races behind. In a sense, human and fal'Cie are brothers-Orphaned by the same parent. As for the humans, they forgot the order imposed by the Maker. They began to war amongst themselves for the first time in history."

War amongst outselves? Reminds me of the Purge.

"The fal'Cie focused on recalling their lost deity, and returning the world to its former glory. This purpose lies at the heart of all their actions. Calling back the Maker requires a fitting sacrifice."

Lightning slowly stood back up. "Yeah, we've heard. The destruction of Cocoon."

"The lives of this world in bloody tribute." Cid threw the gun blade back to Lightning, and she caught it.

"No, that's crazy talk." Sazh mumbled just barely enough for me to hear.

"But, then why would they need _us_ to do _that_?" I asked. "The fal'Cie are powerful enough. I mean, they could just do it on their own without getting others involved."

Cid paced slowly as he explained. "Their existence is bound to the creation and maintenance of this floating shell. It is their very nature that holds them in check."

"You mean, Cocoon fal'Cie can't destroy Cocoon?" Hope questioned. "They needed tools."

"If we can stop this by doing nothing, then we'll do nothing!" Vanille offered.

_But, then, we'd turn into…_

"Noble." Cid put his arm out. "I expected just as much."

"You lied to us! What happened to your dream of rebuilding Cocoon for the people? Was it all a lie?" Snow yelled at the man.

"A shadow of a dream from when I was human. It was change I craved, and once I'd build the influence to make things happen, there was change." Cid looked at his brand. "I gained all the power I could hope for, but was a puppet with no will to wield it." The brand started to glow. "It wasn't the fal'Cie that changed. It was me."

"You were made a l'Cie?"

"A l'Cie. Tied to an inescapable Focus-a slave for destiny. I'd lost hope. I'd all but given up on dreams of freedom," Cid sad, eyes sad.

"What are you saying?"

Cid placed a hand on his chest. "I'm here on my own accord, not by fal'Cie order. Seeing you fight brought it all back. Brought back that future I once strove for. I, too, will challenge my fate." He rose his hand in the air, and a blackish blue fiery smoke encased him. With his branded hand, he snapped.

Shields that looked like the Cocoon l'Cie brand circled us.

_What the?_

"If I can defeat you here, the fal'Cie plan will fail," Cid stated.

"Raines!"

"I will use all my remaining power!" In a blinding light, Cid turned into what looked to be part Cie'th and part human. One hundred percent monster.

"I will set you free!"

**Battle Commenced**.


	18. Chapter 18

_**Battle Scene**_

…

Quickly, before I did any thing, I casted a spell called Libra on Cid. Right away, I knew what to do and not to do.

Lightning slashed at Cid a few times, but nothing happened. It was like her gun blade just bounced off.

I examined him closely. He was using a shield!

_No fair!_ I mentally complained. I started to think of ways we could break the barrier.

"Faith! Look out!" I heard someone yell. Before I could even register who said it, a massive pain exploded on my abdomen, and I was launched into the air. Cid struck down on me, and I was sent straight back into the ground.

I then felt a cool sensation of relief spread through my body, and the pain faded in an instant. I yelled a thanks to whoever sent the cure spell to me, and got back up.

Cid just stood there, arms crossed. The barrier of protection slightly glowed around him.

What was he doing? I looked over, and I saw Fang cast a greenish orb onto him. The barrier faded.

_That got rid of the protection! Now's our chance!_

I charged at Cid while he wasn't paying attention, and I slashed at him with all my might.

He tried to block my attacks with his Cie'th arm, and shoved me back.

Once again, I sensed something different. A _bad_ different.

He arched his back forward, and 6 wings grew out of his back.

I just stared at him. "Oh, damn!"

Cid flew into the air, and shot a ray of blinding light.

That light weakened us. That cool relief feeling waved over me again.

Cid guarded himself with his wings.

This was going to be a _long _battle.

…

Afterbattle

…

Cid gasped for air and staggered. He fell over in defeat.

I sighed, putting my claw blades up.

"Ironic, isn't it? The only thing I wanted was a moment of triumph." Cid took another deep gasp for air. "How it ends isn't important. Just do what you know is right." Crystal shards started to float up around him, and he held a hand out to us. "Trust yourselves."

A bright, blinding light filled our vision. When it faded, Cid Raines had turned to crystal.

Sazh stepped up. "What? Did he complete his Focus?"

"I don't think so. All Raines did was try to save Cocoon in his own way." Snow got closer to Cid. I saw him clench his fist, and mumble something I couldn't hear. He threw his hand down, and stormed off.

"Wait!"

"Where are you..?"

"Snow!"

I rolled my eyes. "He's just mad that Cid tricked him."

"We've all been tricked, Faith," Sazh told me.

"What I mean, is, Snow believed that Cid would keep us from getting harmed by fal'Cie, and that he would help defeat it. But, you see, Cid was fooling us. Make sense now?" I looked at them, and followed after Snow.

I felt the same as Snow. I wanted to someone to believe us, and I wanted someone to believe in. I wanted someone to know that we l'Cie aren't trying to mean any harm. We actually want to keep Cocoon from danger.

It saddened me. No one believed us. It was like being a one man army against a whole nation. And then some.

I face palmed at the thought.

I want it to be over. I wish we could just stop.

But I know that wont happen for a long while.

I didn't even notice the footsteps running up behind me. The others had caught up to me and Snow. I felt a hand placed on my shoulder. I looked up, it was Lightning.

She gave me one of her ghost smiles, and walked forward.

_Well, I do have someone I can believe in._ I then smiled, too, and tried to catch up.

…

We had made back outside, only to meet more Ark.

"Looks like it's a dead end," Hope stated.

I groaned in frustration. "I'm getting sick and tired of this Ark."

"If the stories are right, it's a maze," Vanille said.

"This place is a boot camp for l'Cie," Fang explained. "All kinds of challenges from Gran Pulse are waiting."

"Challenges, huh? To get us ready to wipe out Cocoon?" Sazh asked.

"We can wait here is turning Cie'th sounds better," Fang offered.

"I have had enough of this. Where's the way out?" Sazh yelled.

"Way out?" Snow came in. "Who said there was one?"

…

Snow punched his fists together. "Bring it on." He walked forward. "My mind is made up. Maybe I will end up a Cie'th. But until that happens." Snow raised up Serah's tear. "I'm going to make Serah happy. I couldn't bring myself to admit that tear meant good-bye." He threw the tear in the air, and caught it. "But I didn't need to. Serah was here the whole time. Now I get it. What this tear's been telling me is to not let our Focus win." He held the tear out. "It's not the fal'Cie we should listen to. It's Serah, and Raines. Do you know why? Because our Focus doesn't matter. What matters to me is that we protect Cocoon, whatever it takes."

"Same here." Vanille walked up to Snow. "I'll help you do it!" She put her hand on Snow's.

I raised my hand. "I'm in!" I walked up, too, and set my hand on theirs, "I believe in you and Serah just as much!" And gave a grin to Snow and Vanille.

Hope set his hand on ours. "Alright. I'm in."

And guess who else agreed? The chocobo! It sat on our hands, and raised its wings.

I chuckled, and tapped the little guy's head.

"I mean, come on! When a chocobo agrees, you know you're on the right path!" Snow smiled.

"Well count me out," Fang said.

I turned towards her.

_What the?_

"If you all want to go on your own." Fang grabbed her lance and pointed it at us. "Then so will I!"

_Is she turning on us?_

"Let Cocoon get what's coming. They hate us for being l'Cie. What's it to me if they die? Better that than watch a friend go Cie'th. If you don't have the nerve for it, I'll do it myself." She kept her stance. "Go on alone, get stronger, and smash Cocoon out of the sky."

"Fang?"

Fang buckled her knees, and dropped her lance. "You turn Cie'th, and there's _no_ coming back!" She clutched her brand. "I'm not letting it end this way!" The brand glowed, and Fang yelled in pain. A shape appeared above and below her. A ray of light shot out from her, and into the air. A dark cloud was made from that ray, and a being flew out from it.

_Another Eidolon!_

The Eidolon flew, and stopped in front of us.

"What's he doing here? Come to take pity on me? Come to take care of a broken l'Cie?

"That thing's here to help us?" Snow asked, walking forward.

"Yeah, 'help'," Fang retorted. "That's what Eidolons do, they help us. Eidolons are salvation. If we can't decide what to do next, they put us out of our misery!"

"So you haven't made up your mind yet?" Snow questioned, once again.

Bahamut clasped his claw-like hands together, summoning up an electric orb. He was going to shoot it at Fang, to 'put her out of her misery'.

"No!" I quickly ran in front of Fang, protecting her with my blades.

Lightning stood in front of me, and Snow took the front.

Bahamut shot the orbm and Snow blocked it from hitting us.

"Why are you protecting me?" Fang asked in a huff. "What are you doing?"

I turned to her. "We aren't letting our comrads give up and quit like this, Fang."

"We can do without their brand of mercy." Lightning gestured to the Eidolon. "I'm fighting this Focus to the end."

I smirked at Fang. "We are all going to fight it."

"So please." Lightning held a helping hand out to Fang. "Fight with us."

Fang looked at the both of us, to Vanille, then back to Lightning. She smiled, and took Lightning's hand. The pulsian stood up, and took a battle stance. "Ready when you are!"

**Battle Commenced.**


	19. Chapter 19

_**Author's note: Herrow! It's TSOH! I don't always do ANs, but I have to for this one. **_

_**I had one unsigned review, so this is what she/he said:**_

"_**Chocobo ProdoCo: UPDATE! Pweese? I'll make a page for Faith on Wikia. **_

_**Actually, I'm already doing that, but…**_

_**Pweese?**_

_**~Chocobo"**_

_**That person is AWESOME! Here's the updated chapter I promise. Read on, hagglers!**_

Afterbattle

…

When the Eidolon, Bahamut, weakened, he disappeared into a crystal fang, and landed into the owner's hand. It quickly dissolved as Fang looked at her brand.

"Look!" Vanille pointed east of us. "A new path!"

I turned, and she was right! There was a violet path that led to another area. Maybe a way out?

Vanille smiled, "Maybe that thing _did_ save us!"

"Don't suppose you consider it a sign of me being right?" Snow suggested.

I sighed, and face palmed.

"No? Okay…" Snow's head drooped a bit, which made me smirk.

"Listen!" Snow called out. "Keep our eyes on the goal, and we'll figure something out."

I shrugged my shoulders, and tried to think happily about it.

"Alright!" Snow walked to the path, obviously being the leader.

We followed behind him, heads up, prepared for anything.

…

Nearing the end of the path, Vanille pointed at something again. "Hey, look at that!" She ran towards whatever it was.

I tilted my head a bit, and saw what looked like…an airship?

"It's from Gran Pulse!" Vanille cheered.

We walked to it, and I examined it.

I'm no airship pilot like Sazh, an expert at mechanics like Lightning, nor can I control any warmech like Hope, but I do know when something has a bump in it's wiring or it's been messed with to kill us all during our flight.

This airship didn't have any of that. It looked completely fine. I mean, I haven't seen the inside just yet, but the outside seems completely normal and scheme-free!

"I guess it was one of this Ark's weapons or something," The pigtailed Pulsian put two fingers on her chin, and tilted her head.

I heard a very faint gasp from Fang, and she quickly walked over. "There's a gate to Gran Pulse."

Following her, I looked up.

I've seen pictures of gates to Pulse in a text book one time, and this looked exactly like those pictures.

It looked like a bird, almost, with a blue glimmer and shine bouncing off of it.

"So, what?" Sazh asked. "That's our exit? Pulse, or bust?"

Lightning walked forward. "Could be one of Dysley's traps."

Vanille turned to her. "Well, that's not good. Do you think it might take us to Eden?"

Sazh walked in front of us, shaking his head and sticking a thumb at his chest. "I'm doing the flying. No more of these ships taking charge of our traveling plans stuff." He held an arm up, and flexed it. "Only place this ships taking us is where these boys tell it to."

"Ha! Really? _That _is a Gran Pulse ship," Fang stated.

"Really? Leave it to me-" Sazh hit his chest, causing him to wheeze and cough.

I started to giggle, and rolled my eyes. Sazh and Fang haven't agreed a lot on our trip, but they're still great partners.

"Either way," Snow went over to Sazh. "We're on borrowed time. Might as well go." He slapped the old man on the back, causing him to wheeze even more. "If we're lucky, maybe we'll even turn up some way to get rid of these goofy tattoos."

I raised my hand. "I second that! These things are a pain, they look stupid, and they get us in trouble. I don't care what we got to do, I'll do it and get rid of my brand."

"But there's no way to do that," Vanille dropped her head.

I smiled, and tilted her head up. "Hey, don't think like that. Both of our worlds are filled with possibilities. You can look up, down, or all around, and there's always a solution to a problem. No matter what, we'll get rid of these things for good."

A genuine smile glimmered on the girl's face, and she nodded her head.

"If nothing else, we know Cocoon is safe for the time being. I say it's worth going to take a look," Hope said.

"Maybe. But, what about your dad?" Lightning asked the fourteen year old.

That made the air drop to the lower downlands.

He turned to my sister. "I made him a promise. That I'll keep going, and do what I have to do. He said that only I would know what that is." He sighed. "The world is full of lies. There's no way of knowing what's right. Let's keep believing ourselves."

"Believing yourself is just as easy as letting someone trick you, right?" I pondered.

"It is. Just like how the army let us believe that l'Cie were some kind of monster. I'm done with all that. The Fal'Cie, our Focus. I use my eyes, from now on. Just think. And act." He stopped in front of Lightning and I.

I nudged Light softly. "Looks like you rubbed off on him."

Everyone slightly laughed.

Hope smiled, and kept on going. "Even if I don't make the right choices, as long as I choose what path I go on, there's nothing to regret."

"Okay." Sazh went to Hope. "I'm with you. Bad choices and all." He ruffled Hope's hair.

The teen chuckled. "Of course, I'm not sure how it's going to turn out. Pulse is hell, you know."

Fang strode to Hope. "Oh, is it now? And how many times have you been there?"

"None. But, I would like to go and see it for myself," Hope replied.

"Okay, people!" Snow threw Serah's tear in the air.

I walked in front of Snow, and caught the tear myself. "Everyone up to this, or what?" I turned to them all.

They agreed.

"Off to Hell we go," Lightning joked.

"Better not be a boring field trip, I paid too much gil for it!" I then joked, too.

We all laughed, and walked to the airship.

_Dear Maker, let us survive this. Let us have a miracle, no matter how small the miracle may be. I beg of you. I want our happiness to last._


	20. Chapter 20

After we boarded the Pulsian airship, we took off.

Flying through the portal took a lot of effort, but Sazh got us through it.

I saw the sky, and I then knew we were on Pulse.

"Great job, Sazh! We made it," I cheered from the back.

Sazh looked from his pilot seat to me, "Yeah! Told you, didn't I?"

Then, something flew by us, causing the airship to shake.

I looked out the window, and the creature was huge! He looked like a flying, oversized centipede wearing a festival mask.

"Playful little critter, isn't he?" Fang sarcastically asked.

"Yeah," Lightning replied. "Well play with someone else."

Vanille chuckled. "Happens all the time!"

"He must think we're lunch," Fang stated.

"Yeah, like a l'Cie food buffet," Sazh joked.

_This isn't the time to be joking!_ I shook my head.

"'Cie-food'. Cute."

The thing started to fly at a speeding rate towards us.

"Oh no, here it comes!" I yelled.

It crashed into the side of the airship, causing me, Hope, and Vanille to fly out.

Vanille grabbed onto the ship, I grabbed onto her free hand, and Hope grabbed onto my free hand.

Vanille's hand slipped because of the commotion, and we started falling.

"You okay?" Vanille yelled over the roaring wind.

Hope sarcastically replied, "Oh yeah, I'm great!"

"Grab on!" I heard Lightning yell, and I was forced onto another flying creature.

I looked down, and we were on Bahamut.

The airship fell into tall trees, with smoke polluting the air.

We flew over the land, and I gazed at it. There was so much wildlife and nature. Everything looked so free compared to Cocoon.

"Home sweet home," Fang said. "Welcome to Gran Pulse."

…

After we landed, Snow, Sazh, and Lightning went to go search ruins.

Fang, Vanille, Hope, and I stayed back.

"Hey, do you think there might be anywhere we could go? I don't feel like just waiting for the others to get back." I asked.

Vanille hummed, obviously thinking. "Well, there is a stream nearby. You could go there and get some fruit from the trees by it."

"It's a calm area, nothing really goes by there that should attack you. Go take a look," Fang added.

I nodded. "Awesome. Hope, want to go with me?"

Hope looked up. "Sure," and he walked over to me.

"It's just along that path over there, keep following it, and you'll find it," Fang informed.

"Gotcha. Let's go!" Hope and I jogged in the direction Fang pointed.

…

We reached the stream, and there were a couple trees with fruit on them.

I examined them. "I don't think I could climb these kind of trees, but if we just do this," I rammed my shoulder into the tree, and one fell. "We can get them down." I tossed it to Hope, and he set it down.

The chocobo chick followed us, and rolled the fruit around.

"If you get the fruit off this tree, I'll get it off the other tree," I offered, and he agreed.

We did so, and getting the fruit was easy.

After what only felt like a couple of minutes, the trees were stripped of their fruit.

Hope walked over to the stream. "Maybe this water is clean enough to drink."

I followed him, and eyed the water. I didn't see any organisms in the water, and it looked pretty decent enough. Plus, it was very shallow. "I don't see anything that could pollute the water. If we get sick, I'm pretty sure there's herbs to make medicine that could heal us. Let's try it." I cupped my hands in the water, and took a sip. It tasted fine.

Hope drank a little as well, as he didn't make a face of disgust.

"It seems fine. Let's gather the fruit, and tell the others about the stream," I told Hope, and we stood up.

Then, he gasped. I turned my head to him, and his brand started to glow.

He clutched it, groaning in pain. Hope started to fall backwards, but I ran over and grabbed him.

He fainted in my arms, and I examined his brand. Another arrow was added.

"No…Hope! Wake up!" I shook him, but his eyes stayed closed. I darted my eyes around, and saw the chocobo chick. "Hey! Go back to camp and get the others. I would do it, but I got to stay and be sure Hope doesn't get any worse. Can you do that?"

The chocobo chirped, and nodded.

"Good. Hurry!"

It flew off, and I glanced down at Hope.

_If his brand changed now, why didn't mine? What about the others? They're out there where the bloodthirsty wildlife is! Lightning…_ I started to worry, we were branded at the same time! I knew mine would grow to the next stage soon, but I hoped it wasn't right now.

My shoulders drooped, and I sighed. "Damn it!" I closed my eyes, and prayed everyone would be alright.

_**Author's note: Herrow! TSOH here. Sorry if the chapter is a bit short, I have a bit of writer's block, but I wanted to go ahead and update. Hope you like it**_


	21. Chapter 21

It felt like forever since I sent the chocobo to get the others, and that time wasn't doing Hope any good.

He was pale, and clammy. His breathing was soft, and his eyes darted around under the lids.

"Hope! Faith!" A voice called out, and I quickly looked up.

They had finally made it.

Snow and Lightning knelt down next to me and Hope.

"You alright?" Snow looked at me with worry-filled eyes.

I nodded my head. "I'm not the one you should be worrying about here."

…

By the time we got back to our camp, the sky was dark, and night had came.

Sazh lit up a fire, Vanille set out a thick thermal blanket she had found near our camp, and Lighting laid Hope down on it.

I sat down near the fire, and stared into it. I did get a glance at Sazh's brand, and it was in the same stage as Hope's. Snow's brand was just one arrow behind. Lightning and Vanille's brands are most likely in the same stage as those. Fang's brand, though, is frozen. It doesn't change.

That leaves me. I checked my brand when the chocobo had left to get the others. My brand is behind. While the others have seven or eight arrows, I still only have six. Last time I had checked my brand, and it wasn't that long ago either, I had five. My brand had recently changed to six.

I'm scared. The others are closer to Cie'th city than I am. If we do end up doing nothing, what it they become those monsters before me? I don't want to witness that.

_Don't think like that._ I reassured myself. We were _not_ becoming Cie'th. I knew that.

"So this is how it ends?" Snow stood up.

Sazh shook his head. "Just wait. Now how long has it been since we left Cocoon, hm? Not a single soul for miles around, and not a single clue about this whole l'Cie mess!"

Snow looked angry, and like he was about to charge at Sazh.

"What I mean, is, we did well just getting this far," He finished.

I heard Snow groan, and his head drop.

Vanille walked close to us. "But…We could go a bit further."

"Meaning?"

"There's still one place-"

"Vanille!" Fang cut the redhead off. "Are you sure?"

She nodded her head, a smile glinting on her face. "I'm sure."

"You know, if we don't find anything this time, we wont get another chance." Lightning stated, voice emotionless.

I frowned at her words. Why was it this confusing? If the fal'Cie really wanted us to help, they could've at least made it easier!

"Oerba-the place it all began."

I darted my eyes to the figure on the thermal blanket. _Hope!_

I stood up, and walked over to Hope, Vanille behind me.

"The place where the Pulse fal'Cie lay dreaming," He lifted his wrist up, and his eyes went to his brand. "Fang and Vanille's home. It will be the place where we find the answers we're looking for."

"Yeah, right. If we can get there," Fang scoffed.

Hope smiled, sitting up. "Go ahead without me."

"What are you talking about?"

"We can't just leave you!"

He held a defensive hand up to me and Vanille. "I'll be fine. You've all taught me so much, showed me how to fight." Hope stood up, but quickly staggered over.

Snow caught him, and held him to his chest. "What did I tell you? Leave the fighting to me."

"I'm scared." The teen whimpered.

Lightning walked over to him, and placed a gloved hand on his shoulder. "We understand. You're not going through this ordeal alone, you know."

"Yeah, we'll be there for you! We look out for each other, right?" I asked, trying to make the air a bit less heavier for Hope.

"But, that's what scares me! I don't…I don't want to see you get hurt because of me." His voice started to crack, and I could tell he was getting really upset. "It would be better for everyone if I just stayed behind!"

Then, a glow appeared from his brand, and lights shot out.

We all stepped back, and I knew what was going on.

Hope's Eidolon was being summoned now.

Four rays of light rocketed out from the ground, and into the night sky.

Falling from the air, a giant landed on the ground in front of it's summoner. The impact knocked all of us back.

This thing looked to be the height of four Hopes put together!

"Mention ordeals, and look what comes along!" Fang yelled.

Quickly getting up, I ran over to the scene.

Lightning unholstered her gun blade. "This isn't an ordeal, this is a gift. Hope! This is the kind of power you've got inside. And it's telling you not to give up. Trust me."

"Oh I get it! It's here to show you the way. Show you that you've got what it takes to get back on your feet and do this thing!" Fang noted.

"You mean, this thing came from me?" Hope asked.

Walking forward, and taking out my claw blades, I nodded my head. "Yes. I know you can do this! Hope, if you have the power inside you to summon _this_, you have the power to fight it. Now, come on!"

Hope ran in front of us, and took out his boomerang.

**Battle Commenced**

…

When it was over, the Eidolon, Alexander, dissipated into a crystal star. Hope ran, and caught it. It quickly disappeared in his hands.

"That's some beast you tamed, I'll tell you that."

"I always thought Eidolons came to free you through death, but now I think they're there to snap us out of our slumps," Hope said.

Snow walked over, putting a hefty hand on Hope's back. "Oh, like the one you were just in?"

Hope frowned. "I'll ask for help earlier next time around."

"Hey, don't sweat it. You couldn't help it, you were scared. We all are. We'll make it through," I told him, giving a real smile.

Vanille walked over to him, and hugged him. "I told you, on Gran Pulse, we're all family. You can moan all you like, but you're still stuck with us."

Sazh chuckled. "You're never alone in hell!"

"Listen, funnyman. Stop callin' this place hell, alright?" Fang got real close to Sazh, and got real serious.

"So, we're all decided then?" Lightning asked.

Everyone agreed, and smiled.

The guys started picking on Hope.

I smiled. Hope looked a lot better. His skin color went back to a peachy tint, and he didn't look shakey or weak.

_I guess we did get a miracle. Or something like it._


	22. Chapter 22

_**Author's Note: Herrow! TSOH here. Yup, this is a new chapter! I've actually been writing on this chapter for quite a bit now. Even before I wrote the other chapters. Now, you are going to get TWO chapters today! I was seeing if I could get the next chapter and this one combined, but I couldn't find a way to make it work. So, yup! CH22 and CH23 are going to be released today. Sorry if this is a bit short. As I said, I wanted to combine the two chapters, but it wouldn't work out. Hope you enjoy!**_

The next day came as we walked on the soil of Gran Pulse.

I hadn't really been exposed to the wildlife of this land, and when I was, I nearly gasped.

The animals, or should I say monsters, were huge! And they weren't as tame as the ones back on Cocoon. Or not even tamed at all.

"Don't worry," Fang nudged me, seeing I was obviously nervous. "If you don't act scared, they wont even notice you!"

_You better be right. _I nodded my head, and kept walking forward.

…

We had been walking for quite a while, saying it was already sundown and we hadn't fought anything. Fang was right, don't act scared and the fiends wont notice you!

We then suddenly walked into a thick fog, so thick I couldn't see ahead of me, nor could I see the others.

"This is some fog!" I heard what sounded like Sazh.

I looked around, trying to make out the others, but I made out a shadow not to far from me. I squinted my eyes, trying to see if I could tell who it was.

I didn't recognize that figure. It got closer and closer, and I saw it was more than one shadow. And the shadows were huge.

"Uh, guys?" I tried to say, but it came out as a low squeak.

The figures were familiar. It looked very similar to what Greater Behemoths look like.

_Oh crap!_

I heard the stomps of the Behemoths getting closer, and I quickly backed away, only to trip over something, and because of the fog, I couldn't tell what I tripped over.

"Faith! Come on!" A voice as cold as steel yelled to me, so I got up and ran in the direction of Lightning's voice. But, I couldn't find my comrades.

The Behemoths knew we were there, and they got closer and closer. I could make out that there were about three of them.

I looked and looked, and I still couldn't see the others. They knew just as well about the approaching enemies.

"Where are y-Ugh!" Almost in an instant, I was jolted into the air with a burst of pain. I cried out, and landed. Everything in my vision went completely white for a moment, and then went just blurred blobs of color.

My body burned, and I felt the ground vibrate as another Behemoth came over to take another go of launching me into the air.

Everything was so blurry, I couldn't see anything.

I heard the Behemoth roar, and I was sent flying. I landed once again, and I was too weak to even respond to it. I only winced as I felt my ribs shook, and possibly crack, and my brain get shook around in my skull. I had a pounding headache, and I could barely move.

Suddenly, everything went still, and quiet. _What's going on?_ I wanted to ask, but I still couldn't move, as if I were paralyzed.

That soon went away, and I was in pain again.

I felt mighty hands grasp my shoulders, and shake me.

I took a sharp intake of breath in pain, and the hands let go of me.

"Faith! Wake up!" A voice yelled to me.

As before, I felt paralyzed and weak. I couldn't go on.

Cool sensations of cure spells had spread throughout my body, but no relief followed. I was still in pain and weak.

_I'm sorry. I can't do it. Forgive-_

More pain jolted in my body, and my branded should started to burn and itch. I yelled out, and saw flashes of light through my eyelids.

The pain slowly faded, and I opened my eyes.

Standing before me was a dragon like create that had to been at least fifty feet long. It's scale body was silver and blue. He stood to be about thirty feet tall.

_Is this…my Eidolon?_

"You've really got to get up now!" The accented voice of Fang commanded, and pulling me up, and handing me my claw blades, which must've fallen off.

I heard a faint whisper come from the Eidolon, it sounded like it has said, "Leviathan."

I took a deep breath, and readied my weapons.

**Battle Commenced**

…

When I got him weakened enough, he vanished into a crystal butterfly, the Eidolith, and I picked it up and it faded in my hand.

I turned to the others, and smiled.

I was exhausted, and I fell in defeat. I felt hands brace my shoulders before I could kiss the ground. In their arms, I lost all consciousness.


	23. Chapter 23

_**Author's Note: TSOH again. This chapter is short as well. A good 4 pages. The other one was about 6 pages. If I could've made It work, it would've been a long 10 pages worth. But, anyways. Okay, the beginning of this chapter will be in 3**__**rd**__** POV. Reason is that I wanted to put in the other's reactions to Faith being unconscious and junk. You'll see when it goes to Faith's POV. But, if you do get confused, I'll put a star (*) where it goes to her POV. Enjoy!**_

"Faith."

No response.

"Faith!" Snow shook the limp body again.

Fang set a hand on his shoulder, looking at the flow Faith's brand gave off. "She's weak at the moment, it's better if she rests."

"But-"

Lightning kneeled down to her youngest sister, and picked her up bridal style. She turned to face Fang. "Which way?"

Fang gave a slightly sad smile, and pointed East. "That way. Snow and I will take lead. Hope, Sazh, Vanille, watch our backs." And then she looked to Faith. "Let's avoid any enemies 'til she wakes up."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, and went forward.

*…

Everything was silent, and dark.

I tried to call out to someone, but nothing escaped my mouth.

I then tried to recall the previous events, but it was all blank.

I could only recognize pain, and fear.

Mostly fear. The want of giving up.

_I don't want to be here. It's too dark._ I thought. I even tried to curl into a ball.

It was cold, too. And scary.

_Where is everyone?_ I wanted to ask, but no one would be there to answer me.

If I could, I'd be crying in fear. Fear of being alone.

"**ROAR!**" I heard from overhead.

It was a familiar sound. I knew I had heard it recently, but when? Where?

"**Get back!**" A familiar voice rung out. I know who this voice belongs to, but I can't remember.

"**It wants-! Get-out of here!**" What?

Those words, they weren't finished.

Get who out?

Everything started to shake.

"**Faith!**"

…

My eyes snapped open to the scene.

There were flying enemies, enemies on foot, enemies attacking, and all of the above.

I was hidden behind a pile of rubble debris.

I tried to stand, and nearly fell over, but I caught myself.

My friends, they were being attacked as I stood here doing nothing!

_I'm not going to be a hindrance!_ I raised a hand over my brand, and the butterfly crystal appeared in it.

Using my nails, I cracked open the crystal and threw it in the air above their battle.

"Leviathan!" I yelled, and the Eidolon shot up and out, facing the enemies. "Protect my friends!"

**Battle Commenced**


	24. Chapter 24

_**Author's Note: Herrow! TSOH once again! Sorry for such a long wait for this update, I've been kind of busy in school and junk. Anyways, I've been writing the chapter during school when I can, but I just wasn't able to post it yet. Well, now I can! I'm hoping to get quite a long chapter in this one. Thanks for those who've reviewed and put this story in their alerts! Read on!**_

Once Leviathan and I fought off all the monsters, he disappeared into the crystal butterfly once again, and I caught it in my hand.

Still a bit winded, when I tried to walk back to the others, I stumbled. I quickly caught myself, and made it to them.

Snow put his hand on my shoulder, and I looked up at him.

"You alright?" He asked, with a glint of worry in his eyes.

I gave a reassuring smile, and nodded. "Of course I'm alright! Leviathan helped me out, along with you guys."

"Are you sure? If you can't travel, we can wait a bit back at-"

I raised a hand. "Vanille, it's okay. We need to hurry anyways." I brushed a hand over my where my brand is. "We're under a time limit, remember?" I already knew that my brand had gotten another arrow, I felt it.

"Alright! Let's pick back up on our travel."

We then went forward on our journey.

…

Snow had found an enormous tunnel, and we went in.

There were a few Pulse Automata, but nothing to challenging to get by.

I was actually surprised. These tunnels look well kept, as if they weren't going to be tumbling down anytime soon. The walkway bridges looked pretty sturdy, too. Rusty, yes, but still sturdy.

"A Gran Pulse fal'Cie made this path," Fang stated, looking down in the tunnels.

Vanille walked up behind her. "Yep. I bet it's off digging more tunnels right now."

"They seem different than the fal'Cie on Cocoon, you know?"

Hope was right, they did seem different. These seemed to be more free, and wild. The ones back on Cocoon seemed secluded, and always having power over everyone.

Fang rested a hand on her hip. "That's true. Then again, we were able to build our village on land cleared by fal'Cie. We lived along side the, just like you do on Cocoon."

"Oh yeah, this is _just_ like Cocoon," Sazh sarcastically replied.

"But, in a world as big as this, who knows what we'll discover," I smiled. I liked adventure, even though I didn't show it.

I was fond of Pulse. It wasn't no where near as bad as the government on Cocoon had said it was.

Sure, the animals here might want to swallow us whole, but we can just step aside from that.

…

"So, what exactly are these tunnels called?"

Vanille bounced over to me. "I believe they're called the Mah'habara Subterra, or something like that."

_The Mah'habara Subterra._ Even the name sounded foreign. But, it has importance if it's got a name.

Many Pulse Automata were on the walkways, probably trying to protect the tunnels from invaders, or better known as us.

Sliding by them, we discovered more and more of the Subterra. And I liked it. On Cocoon, before the whole Purge thing, I was always packed in our home.

I mean, I went to the shores in Bodhum every now and then, but I always felt like that there was nothing more. Cocoon felt small to me.

While everyone else hated Pulse, I was actually curious about it. Something inside me always wanted to go there, but something else warned me that I shouldn't.

So, I followed that.

_**AN: So, I'm so sorry that this was a very short chapter. My mind is just horrible at the moment, and I can't seem to write. I have another story in my mind, and it's kind of hard to write one while thinking of another. Hope you forgive me! **_

_**~TSOH**_


	25. Chapter 25

_**Author's Note: I'm baack~ SO sorry I haven't posted for a while. How long has it been? Three effing weeks! But, I have been busy. We've been preparing for testing at school, my birthday pasted, and I've been with friends. Don't worry, though! I'm here to write again! Read on!**_

In the Subterra, the Pulsework did it's job.

Clear the tunnels, work on the bridges, and protect it from any harm.

It reminded me of Cocoon.

The army cleared the floating mass, worked on the supporting fal'Cie, and protected it from any harm or invasion from Pulse.

My thoughts were stopped as the ground shook and the tunnels rumbled, and I fell over.

"Guys, heads up!"

An enormous, spiked ball tumbled and rolled below the bridge we walked on.

"Woah."

"Look at that thing!"

"I'm just going to go out on a whim here, and say that _that_ is a fal'Cie," I stated as I picked myself up.

"Yep!" Vanille replied. "It's busy carving out new tunnels."

"Making roads where roads ain't meant to go, huh?" Snow questioned. "Sounds kind of like us." He fist pumped. "Alright, roly-poly! Let's hitch a ride on that thing!"

Vanille put her hands on her hips. "Now you're thinking Gran Pulse style!"

…

Vanille had wondered off, and Fang had followed. The boys went off in some other direction.

That left me and Lightning. And, to be honest, it was kind of awkward.

You'd expect me to enjoy having some time with my older sister. But, then again, this is _Lightning_ we're talking about here.

I simply just walked behind her, looking down at my feet.

Unexpectedly, Light came to an abrupt halt, and I collided with her back.

I fell down, and it took me a minute to gather myself.

Looking up, I saw gloved hand reach out to me.

"It's okay," I said, and stood up without Lightning's help. "What's the matter? Why'd you stop?"

Taking to her name, she quickly grabbed my arm, and lifted the sleeve up.

I flinched at her touch, and looked at what she was doing.

"I didn't check," Lightning paused. "When you got you're Eidolon." After she was done, she patted the sleeve back down, and gently let my arm go. Lightning turned back around, and kept walking.

I stared at her for a minute, but walked forward after her.

That filled in the awkward silence.

_**Author's Note: And thus, I made it short. On accident, and I'm sorry. I'm still kind of busy, and tired, and I've got writer's block. Still hoped you enjoyed! Lightning and Faith awkward time is awkward.**_


	26. Chapter 26

_**AU: I'M ALIIIIIVE~ Lemme just check FF to see when I last updated…IN OVER A MONTH? Wow, and I'm VERY sorry about that. But, I'm gonna write now, and I've gotten new stuff to tell you guys! One, I redesigned Faith. Tonberryownage13 (dot) deviantart (dot) com / art / redesign - faith - farron - w - color - 301985365 No spaces. And, someone epic on dA drew her. Go to Akariteachan on deviantart, and look through her recent deviations. You'll find something like "TonberryOwnage13 Commissh Faith Farron" or something similar. ^^ Enjoy the chapter!**_

_~Time Skip~_

If I counted every minute, I wouldn't be surprised on how much time we spent going through these tunnels.

How much time we spent getting _no where _in these tunnels, actually.

We take a few yards of steps, we fight Automata, we take more steps, we fight more Automata.

Shampoo, rinse, and repeat.

Now, we've reached a dead end.

While the others looked about, I noticed Hope walking over to a familiar object.

The object looked like something that Lightning has explained to me about.

…A Juggernaut, I believe?

Anyways, Hope walked over to it, and I followed behind him.

"Hope, what are you doing?" I whispered to him, not wanting to get in trouble with the others.

He turned around, a bit startled. "I think if I can get this started, then I could try to clear a path."

Smart. But, can he really work one of these things?

I watched as he hopped on, and got situated. He then put a hand out to me.

"Want to ride?"

I rolled my eyes, and put a hand on his. "Sure." I hopped on behind him, and he started up the Juggernaut.

It gave a weird noise, and started up.

Here's the bad part: It started to move when Hope didn't allow it too.

The thing was reaching an edge.

"Hope, stop it already!"

"I'm trying here, Faith! Woah, stop already!"

It tumbled over the edge, and we fell out of it.

I landed with an 'oof', followed by Hope.

"Hope, Faith! Get out of there!" Lightning yelled, and I looked up.

A wall in front of us crumbled down, and the huge fal'Cie came rolling it.

I stood up quick, worried.

I yelled at it got right in front of me, and shielded myself.

I never felt anything but the heat of its spikes.

Peaking from my arms, I saw that a Juggernaut had jumped in front of us.

"Is it trying to stop it? You can do it!" Hope yelled from behind me, and stepping forward.

More appeared, keeping it stopped, and it finally quit trying to roll.

I sighed of relief, and gave a glare to Hope.

He scratched his head. "S-sorry."

I smiled, and patted him on the shoulder. "No problem."

_**AU: I'm really tired. Just had guests. I want sleep. I'm hungry. Promise I'll write later. Thanks for reading!**_


	27. Chapter 27

_**AU: I knew my previous update was to short for having a freaking month break, so I'm going to make another chapter. ^^ Enjoy~**_

After boarding Trailblazer, and yes, the ride was exactly what his name is, we ended up out of the tunnels and caves.

Seeing the outside again was great, and this area was probably the most calm I've seen of Pulse.

It was slightly dark, yet everything seemed to have a majestic glow. There was clear water around us, and flowers here and there.

We were in a cave like place, but above us, the sky was not concealed.

I could see Cocoon through the mist of the water.

I unconsciously stared at it, not realizing that I was still walking.

I was still staring at it 'til I noticed I was about to run into Snow.

I looked away from the floating planet, and saw that he was looking at Cocoon too. But, through Serah's tear.

I got a bit melancholy for a second there.

"Whatcha doin'?" Vanille crept up behind us.

Snow put his arm down, "I was, uh…talking to Serah. Just telling her that…we're all gonna be okay." He put his arm out to Vanille, and handed her the tear.

I slightly hugged myself, thinking of my sister.

Vanille raised her arm up, and mimicked Snow's actions with the tear. "It's so pretty."

I looked over to the red haired girl. "Vanille, can I ask you something?"

She turned her head a bit, "Yes?"

"You've met Serah, haven't you?"

Vanille sighed, and answered, yet still didn't look. "I tried to hide our Focus, and she ended up a l'Cie. I wanted to say I was sorry, but…"

I lowered my head, feeling bad I brought it up. It seemed that Vanille didn't want to talk about it.

"Well, when we rescue her, maybe you'll get the chance," Snow reassured.

It was then she turned around to us. "Yeah. I hope so."

I smiled.

Snow patted my shoulder, and started to walk forward. "C'mon."

I walked too, but stopped at what I heard from Vanille.

"I think Serah saw the same vision of Ragnarok as we did. Which means, Dysley had to be lying when he explained her Focus. I think she beat it. She gave Cocoon over to us and that is the reason she turned to crystal!"

Snow had stopped too, but then started up again. "Yep! I know!"

I smiled again. Snow started to believe again.

…

After traveling around for a bit, we finally took a pit stop.

I was exhausted. And the others were too.

I found a comfortable spot, and sat down again the rocky wall.

…

I guess I fell asleep.

One moment it was bright, and the next it seemed to be around sundown.

I looked around, and the others were resting too. Luckily, I wasn't the only one that fell asleep.

I counted everyone, and two were missing. _Snow and Lightning._

That was strange.

I stood up, trying not to wake the others, and walked a bit, curious to see were they went.

…

I found them.

They were at this huge cliff.

But, I caught them in an awkward looking time.

Snow was standing there, facing Cocoon, and Lightning was too. She had her fist up to Snow's back, with her gunblade in the other hand.

Her head was down, and from where I could see, I caught a rare sight.

My eldest sister, hard as stone, quick as lightning, and seemingly emotionless…was _crying_.

Last time she cried was…when our parents had died.

I'm glad they couldn't see me. I was hidden behind a tree, kind of spying on them.

_Snow, what've you done to her? _

I didn't think that Snow hurt her, because she wouldn't be crying, she'd be slicing him into a filet.

It was then I saw the tear in Snow's hand.

I understood. They were talking about Serah.

But, I don't think Snow even knew she was crying, because he wasn't turning around and talking to her.

Snow started to turn, though, and Lightning quickly wiped away her tears.

He said something, she nodded, and they started to head back this way.

I quietly gasped, and started to run back to our resting spot.

When I reached it, I laid back down where I was before, and tried to look as if I were just waking up.

As I waited for them to come back, I looked up at Cocoon.

…

_Serah…Lightning really changed. She's become much more like her old self. I hope that by the time you wake up, she's still like this. Sweet dreams, sis._


	28. Chapter 28

When daylight came, we carried back on with our travel.

And after we'd ventured a bit, we found what seemed to be a broken tower.

I can go ahead and say this: I don't like the looks of this!

…

I was right. This definitely wasn't a good idea.

First off, this tower was the home of a mighty fal'Cie. One that seemed to be in a bad mood.

Also, Snow came up with one of the worst plans.

What is even worse? Lightning agreed to it.

You're probably wondering what the plan was.

Well, we all basically split up, and meet up at the top of the tower. That way, we can all clear out each tier of the tower at once, and quickly finish.

…I hate this plan.

Lightning got paired with Snow.

Fang, Vanille, and Sazh all teamed up.

And I'm with Hope. I don't hate the kid at all! It's just…we're both the weakest and the youngest out of us all.

Fang, Vanille, and Sazh went ahead to the next tier as Hope, me, Light, and Snow worked on the bottom.

Once Hope and I cleared a few beasts here and there, Snow ordered for us to move on to the next tier.

So, we hopped on the lift, and the door closed.

I started to put my hand on the level, when I got an idea.

"Hey, Hope. How about we go on ahead to the third tier. I mean, Fang and them are probably already there, so going to the second tier would be a waste, right?" I felt as if I were Snow talking.

Hope furrowed his brows, and looked down, decided.

After a minute, he looked up. "I really don't the problem in that. Let's go."

I grinned, and pulled the level back just far enough to go to tier three.

The lift went up, and after about a few minutes, the door opened.

Hope and I stepped out, and looked.

A little ways ahead of us was a statue, who seemed to be holding something, yet his hand was empty.

As I started to walk forward, Hope grasped my arm, stopping me.

"What's the matter?"

He looked down. "I don't think they're here. Let's go ba-"

"How would you know? We've only taken five steps, and you're already wanting to go back?"

Hope still kept his grip on me, starting to tighten it a bit. "Faith, listen! I don't hear them. If they were here, we'd know. Now come o-"

Something in me snapped. "Hope. Listen to me. Even if they aren't here, that doesn't mean we can't stay in this tier. Isn't that the plan. We split up around the tower? How about you follow it?" I snatched my arm away. "And if you don't like it, then go back to the others. They could use another medic. I'm fine on my own."

My brand started to ache, and I turned. As I walked forward, I clutched it. _Damn tower, messing with my brand._

What was wrong with him? Why was he all of a sudden as scared as a puppy?

Quick footsteps started up behind me, and then they were next to me.

_Guess Hope's with me on this._

_**AU: Sorry for such a short update. I'm starting back up on everyday updates! **__**J I like the way of how I'm going to do this. One of my readers mentioned to me that I'm starting to get a little too close to the story line, and I understand that. I noticed it too, and so when Taejin's Tower was nearing, I was like "NO. I DON'T WANT TO WRITE WITH TH-Hey wait a minute…" And I got a pretty cool idea. **_

_**So? What's going on with Faith and the tower? Leave all your guesses in the review box! ^^ Find out more in the next chapters to come!**_


	29. Chapter 29

_**AN: This chapter may seem a bit…eh…boring. My main reason is that I'm a bit on Writer's Block. Well, actually, not really Writer's Block, but my mind is on an AMV I want to do and I have actualy…started…working…on…my…fan fiction…with Faith…for…wait for it…FFXIII-2! Yup, infact I've been working on it for a while now. I'mma ask a question after I finish with the chapter.**_

_**And I need to start replying to people who don't have an account that post reviews. So, here it goes:**_

_**Lady Wonder (she posted this a while back, but I'mma reply now.): My friends even said that at school. I dunno, but you'll find out later.**_

_**: Could an Eidolon appear after it's already appeared once for someone's misery? And I hope you don't mean romantic fluff. I'll write non-incest fluff, meaning a sweet sisterly moment. BUT NONE OF THAT INSCEST STUFF. Sorry if I disappoint you…**_

_**READ ON. (Longest AU…I just noticed I kept putting AU instead of AN…Sorry…)**_

Hope and I walked up to the statue, and when we reached it, I felt as if it were talking to me.

I felt the small vibrations of the statue's voice in my ears, yet the voice wasn't clear.

But, even if I couldn't understand his words, I knew he wanted something.

Hope grabbed my arm again. "Don't touch it!"

I looked at him, confused. Then I noticed that I was walking to it.

What is wrong with this tower and its statues? It's like it wants to draw me in.

"Sorry, didn't mean t-"

Something then flew by us, it's wind knocking the both of us over.

I looked up, and it was that fal'Cie again.

"Now what do you want?" I stood up, yelling at it.

It twirled, and faced me.

"All I want to do is leave this tower! You and your statues and your tower are all annoying me! Is it that you want us to leave?"

I felt a hand on mine, and I glanced down at Hope.

"Don't provoke him, Faith," He told me, still on the ground.

I sighed, then looked back up at the stupid thing. "Okay, look. If you quit bothering us, then we can get out of here faster, alright?"

The fal'Cie stared at me for a moment, then twirled upwards, revving back.

I concentrated on his moves, and I realized something.

"Hope, run!"

He stood up, and we ran fast to the lift, which had gone down to a different tier. I didn't care, if I had to jump, I would've.

The fal'Cie blew a huge fire ball behind us, barely missing us.

I dropped and rolled, just in case I did get fire on me.

He flew off, and disappeared.

I breathed hard, and got up.

"That was stupid of you, Faith."

I raised my eyebrows, and glared at Hope. "Excuse me?"

He stood up, and looked at me. "You really shouldn't have done that. That thing could've kill us."

I scoffed, and crossed my arms. He _really _wanted to get slapped, didn't he? "You would have said the same thing to him!"

"But, I didn't. I kept quiet. I knew if we said something, he'd get angry and want to kill us, just like he attempted to."

I crossed my arms. "So what? He left, and we didn't even get hurt. You don't have to call me stupid."

"Faith, yo-"

**SLAP!**

"Shut up! Just shut up! You're not being a very great partner right now, Estheim. Why don't you just-," I stopped for a second, noticing my brand was aching again, worse than before. "just leave. I can fight on my own, I don't nee-"

He grabbed my branded shoulder, and unbuttoned the sleeve.

"What are you doing, don't to-"

"Shh."

He pushed the sleeve up a bit, and examined my shoulder. Hope quietly sighed, and it wasn't of relief. He patted down the sleeve, and buttoned it back up.

"You've gained an eye."

_**AN: So, we've basically found out why Faith's been all PMS-y for the past chapter or so. OR HAVE WE? Mwahahahaha. Nah, I ain't evil. If you're still a bit confused, she's been in a bit of a bad mood because the tower kinda affected all of their brands. Faith was just the first to have a slight mood change from it. If you were curious, her brand was on like stage six, while the others are on like eight or nine. Faith is on now stage seven, meaning the eye has started to grow. **_

_**Okay, so I said I would ask a question. HERE GOES.**_

_**I'm getting a bit impatient. Meaning, I REALLY want to post at least the first chapter of the FFXIII-2 story, but I don' t know if YOU guys want me to. SO PLEASE, review me back on that. **_

_**(And…after writing the end of this chapter…I kinda think my character Faith and Hope would be a bit cute together…^^ TEEHEE)**_


	30. Chapter 30

_**AN: YOYOYOYOYYO~~ **_

_**Hello! I'm back again! I'm out of school for the summer now, so I've got time to write! YAY!**_

I hastily undid my sleeve, and tried my hardest to look. It did look different than last time I looked at it.

But, when did I ever do anything to make it change?

_She examined my brand, and gave me a reassuring smile, "Same for you, except your sister's brand is a little more progressed."_

"_Why would that be, I mean we've both been l'Cie for the same amount of time." I asked._

"_Depends on how hard you push yourself. One nasty shock could really speed up the progress of your brand," Fang replied._

Oh yeah.

I've been pushing myself a bit too hard with this tower, and I got a nasty shock with that fal'Cie giving us a terrorist attack right then.

But, then again, I've been pushing Hope as well.

"Come on," He gestured over to the wall, where the fire had hit. "It made a way inside." Hope walked pass me, and through the hole.

I turned, watching him go.

_I feel bad, now._

I followed after him.

…

The entire time we worked on the third tier, me and Hope didn't say a word to each other.

I couldn't blame Hope if he didn't want to talk to me. I was a real jerk to him.

But, I was getting sick of this pregnant silence.

I had something to do.

"Hope," I softly called him.

He stopped in his tracks, and looked back at me.

"I," I took a breath. "I know I overreacted back there. And I really shouldn't have slapped you. I deserve to be called stupid, because I was. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry."

Hope still didn't say anything.

"And, if you want, you could…hit me back." I walked over to him, and pushed a bit of hair out of my face. "Go ahead. I hit you. Now, you should hit me."

He turned completely to me, looking at where I basically put a target on my face. His hand lifted.

I closed my eyes.

A second passed by, and I never felt anything touch my face.

Actually, I felt something wrap around my abdomen, chest, and back.

I opened my eyes, and I saw something that was opposite of a slap.

Hope hugged me.

"I understand, Faith. I forgive you."

I grinned, and hugged him back. I whispered a thanks.

"Whoa there! What's going on here?"

I let go, and turned.

The others reached us.

I glanced at Hope. "What? Friends can't hug friends?" I slightly elbowed the younger teen next to me, and he repeated my actions to me.

Snow walked over. "Okay. Whatever you say, sis."

_**AN: Okay. So, I ish sowwy for short chapter, but I mainly wanted to write this because I wanted the whole Hope and Faith ordeal to pass.**_

_**WHAT I SAY? THEY CUTE!**_

_**^^ Writing fluff is fun.**_


	31. Chapter 31

_**AN: HAI. I'm SO sorry for not writing these weeks! Summer has started, so I was taking a good break from school. I was out of town a couple weeks a ago, then I had friends come over and stay. I had expected to do something, but at the last minute it had to be canceled. So, I've just been MEH. But I'm here now. I was planning on writing this like last week, but as I said, I was going to do something that got canceled. My mind had been on Mars or something. We've taken a TimeSkip with this chapter, saying I really don't wanna write the whole tower. **_

After many encounters with the fal'Cie, as Fang and Vanille had called it Dahaka, and helping out many statues, we rode on a lift.

Finally, we made it too the top of the tower.

I was so glad to be outside again. As big as the tower was, it still felt cramped. I felt as if I had claustrophobia!

Oh, and about Snow's plan, we decided not to keep going with it. I explained everything about how I was going really mad, and turns out Fang and Lightning were going through the same thing.

It would've been too dangerous to go like how we did, saying in example, if I had gotten really bad, and it were just me and Hope, who knows what could've happened.

Now, back to the tower.

On the top of the tower, it seemed so calm and quiet. I liked it. The sun shone on us, and everything was peaceful. It was nice to take a break for once.

There was a railing and stairs leading to the center, and we walked up.

"Why do I have this feeling that something bad is about to happen?" Hope mentioned.

Now that he said that, that peaceful feeling felt…off.

The center floor rose up, like an elevator. It caught me off guard, I didn't expect that happen.

When we reached the top, I roamed my eyes around for any sight of danger. Anything could happen.

"Hey, look!" Snow pointed.

That stupid Dahaka fal'Cie flew in front of us.

"It's acting strange."

"He must be weak from losing his tail."

The fal'Cie's tail got cut off by one of the statues earlier.

Apparently, that didn't affect him now. Electrical currents from the tower drove into him, and he appeared charged up now.

He transformed into something evil-looking.

_This is not good!_

"Yeah? Looks plenty feisty from me."

"Let's maybe hope that he's pulling an act, alright?"

They agreed.

Hope pulled out the boomerang, "C'mon, let's do this!"

The Dahaka roared.

I shook my head. _You don't scare me._

**Battle Commenced**

…

After our battle, the fal'Cie disappeared.

But, we were still waiting for something. Yet, I don't think we knew what we were waiting for.

It was then I looked over, and another lift was waiting for us.

"Nice!"

"Handy."

_Still waiting._

Another statue teleported in front of us.

Vanille giggled, "He's saying thanks."

I curtsied to him, "You're very welcome." And smiled.

"'At last, we are free'," Fang translated. "'We go now, to hunt down evil where it hides.'"

Hope walked forward. "So I guess that means there are still more monsters like that one out there."

"Sounds like it. Somewhere out on Gran Pulse."

And, the statue left. Boy, can he move fast for a rock!

"Guess there just doing what they can too," Fang said. "Trying to 'save the world'."

"Yeah, well it's not all on them. Last time I checked, we're in this fight too," Lightning added on.

…

There was an edge like a balcony on the other part of the apex. We went over to check it out.

"Hey, Oerba's just down that way, isn't it?"

"Yup!" Vanille exclaimed.

Snow must've got curious. "So, what's it like?"

"Well, it's kinda small. But it's warm and green and very naturey!" She explained. Something told me that she was excited to see it again.

Fang walked over, "Around the fal'Cie, it was flowers as far as you could see, huh?"

I took a look over the balcony. Sadly, it wasn't as they said. "Um, guys?"

"View from here ain't so rosy, I'm sorry to say," Sazh finished.

"You want to wait here?" Lightning asked Vanille, a bit of sympathy in her voice.

I looked at Vanille. She wasn't so happy anymore.

But, she shook her head. "No. I need to see for myself."

…

We all saw Oerba. It made me a bit melancholy. They're village was no longer happy and full of flowers, as Fang and Vanille had previously explained. It was…barren ash.

"It's all gone," Vanille had said. She was no longer excited.

"Every trace of color," Even Fang. I've never seen Fang like this.

But, I should understand. When something, or even someone, has been so bright, always full of color. Made you smile every day. When it's gone, you aren't happy anymore. You don't want to smile.

"We're chasing shadows! The whole idea of losing our brands is hopeless!" Fang was on outbreak again.

"There's got to be a way."

"Let's keep looking," Hope started. "That's what we came here for. We agreed, and now we're here."

"You think…you think it's really possible?" Vanille asked the teen.

"Sure, anything is."

Lightning turned to Fang. "There's no going back."

"You don't think I know that?" Fang replied to her.

I looked at everyone. "Well, if we're going to be searching, we might want to start back up. Hmm?" I smiled as they started walking. I caught up with Lightning, and advanced too.

_**AN: AND I FINISHED THE CHAPTER! This is longest one out of the last like 10 chapters I've written. Mainly because I already worked on it two weeks ago,and worked on it again now. Hope you enjoyed! Peace!**_


	32. Chapter 32

_**AN: So what's up? It's me again, writing a new chapter for you lovely readers! It's already been like, what, three weeks since the last update? I'm sorry about that, and I did say a while back I wanted to do every day updates. Well, that kinda wasn't going to work, so I wanted to do every week updates. My brain said no. So I'm working on at least doing every couple of weeks updates. I don't wanna make you guys wait! Enjoy~**_

After boarding the lift, and taking a long ride, we stopped in another place of Gran Pulse.

We were surrounded by crystal dust and mini-mountains. And from where we were, you could have the perfect view of Cocoon.

The area was empty and silent. I felt sorrow here.

But, we had to continue.

…

We had ran around, got lost once, found our way, fought a few Cie'th here and there, until we finally found a small village.

That small village was Oerba.

"Which is your house?"

Vanille softly giggled. "What do you mean 'which is our house'? All of them. They're all ours."

"Yep," Fang said. "Everyone in the village lived together."

Snow crossed his arms. "One big, happy family?"

"One heck of a lot of places to hang your hat."

"And a lot of people to cook for, too."

We started back up walking into the village.

…

We had decided to take a look around, anything to give us clues. But not only that, Fang and Vanille were finally home. They could breathe back in the air of where they grew up. I'm pretty sure they got homesick after a while.

The houses seemed like complete ruins on the outside. But on the inside, you could still see what was left. Pictures, beds, even things in the kitchens. The memories weren't gone.

We had gotten a bit separated, wandering about. But eventually, we gathered back up into the house that Vanille and Fang must've lived it.

They had a little robot pet named Bhakti, which Sazh had fixed up. He was pretty cute, for a robot.

Not only did we find that, but I found all sorts of other stuff. I found little things here and there, mainly things like extra clothes and jewelry. Nothing too important in particular.

Expect one thing. A picture. It was still in perfect shape, no dirt on it, the frame's glass wasn't broken, and the picture was clear. I picked it up, looking at it.

It was of Fang and Vanille. They seemed so lively, and so did the background behind them. Even if it was a small picture, I could tell it was filled with memories.

I remembered when earlier the two were saying Oerba was filled with life and color. Behind them in the picture was exactly that. Green grass, flowers, and a few people here and there.

"That was just days before the War." Fang walked up to me, looking over my shoulder at the picture. The others were looking around the rest of the house. "We'd gotten a picture done by a friend, just roaming around Oerba."

I listened to her as she explained, talking about a couple things that happened before the War.

"From how you explain it, Gran Pulse seems better than Cocoon did." I replied, setting the photo back down. "If any of you were l'Cie, you weren't killed off or tested on."

Fang shrugged. "Cocoon had the better chance of surviving."

"Not after what happened with the Purge, it didn't."

…

After much more searching the houses and the area around it, we didn't really get anything. It was time to go off to more parts.

There was a long bridge near the village, which had been ruined. Even if we couldn't travel across it, we could still search it.

…

We'd found nothing on the bridge, and eventually made it to the end where it broke off.

But, that's when I heard a familiar voice. One I've missed dearly.

"_Ragnarok. Come Day of Wrath, O Pulse l'Cie…Embrace thy fate, thine home to burn. That fallen souls might bear our plea...To hasten the Divine's return. O Piteous Wanderer, Ragnarok."_

We came to a halt, as she walked out of a small light.

"_Make of this day a brave epoch. Deliver the Divine. Ragnarok."_

Was it…was it really her?

"Sis…?"

"Serah, how did you-?"

She was there. Serah smiled, clasping her hands together. "I was waiting. For you to open your eyes." She had ran up and hugged Snow.

I started to smile, she was here.

"All the time I was asleep," She still clasped her arms around Snow. "I knew what was happening. I kept trying to think of a way to save Cocoon-together."

That's when I got a bit confused.

"Serah?" Snow gasped, pushing her away.

She stood back up. "You get it now. There are no gods with miracles to save us. No matter where you look. That's why we have to call one." Serah turned. "Destroy Orphan. We'll save the world!"

"Stop it!" Lightning ordered, her hand hovering over her gunblade.

"Serah, you're starting to not make any sense at all."

She clasped her hands together. "You can't do that to me. You love me too much. You do. Don't you, Claire?"

_Did she just really do that? _That was the last straw.

Snow stepped between us. "Enough already. Listen up. We're all shooting for the same goal here."

Then, a blinding light emitted from Serah. We all looked away, shielding our faces.

"And the result of that is this."

It was Dysley.

_**AN: SOOOOOO. I love this chapter. :D**_


	33. Quick Update   Preview

_** ~Update~**_

_**AN: Hey there you crazy readers! TSoH here! I'm SO sorry for not posting after a couple months, but school has started for me, and I'm now starting a tough year of eighth grade. WEEEE! Naw, not really. I'm not looking forward to it all that much. BUT. That's not the reason why I haven't been posting (believe me). Back in July, we had a power outage because of a storm. Well, the power outage literally killed my computer monitor. My computer, router, and wi-fi thingy are fine though. It's just the monitor. So, you're probably wondering how I can post this, or even type this. My good friend (MoogleMassacre on deviantART) is staying the night and brought her laptop! So, I can post this little update. I wrote part of chapter 33, but it's on my computer that I can't access, sadly. But, I can post a little sneak preview of what I remember~ So, here it goes:**_

"Faith, listen to me." Lightning cupped my face, and made me look at her. "I know that he went a bit too far with what he said, but Snow's just upset as you are. I don't think he meant to hurt you."

I closed my eyes, sighing. "I just want to see Serah again. I really thought that it was her!"

I felt her arms wrap around me, and I gasped a bit. "We'll see her soon. I promise."

_**AN: There's your preview! It's not much, because I don't want you to see ALL of what I can remember of what I wrote. But, you guys might see the chapter by October, I hope. Anyways, hope you enjoyed! Bye bye!**_

_**OH! And replies to reviews:**_

_**Guest on 9/2/12 (just a few minutes ago, believe but I will reply now): I'm glad you're just kidding, but read this update again. I can't simply write a chapter in two days, which is how long I'll be able to use my friend's laptop. Even though I have the ideas for this chapter in my head, I can't write it out, make a final draft, and post it in just two days. I did say that I do not have a computer to use to write my next chapter on once she leaves. So saying, 'This is all we get? Wow. Just kidding. But please hurry and update' isn't something you'd say to someone who just said why I can't update any time soon. Sorry if I sound a bit rude here, but I'm just simply letting you in on this. c:**_


	34. Chapter 33

_**AN: Hallo! I'm back once again. Hopefully, you'll like the chapter. The preview you had previously will be changed up a bit, since I thought over it a bit more. C: Read on!**_

Snow charged at him, ready to kill. "You son of a-!" Dysley teleported back, and Snow rolled.

He charged at him again. Only to get deflected off back to us.

I stepped up. "Who do you think you are?! You may be some big fal'Cie guy, but that was low!" I had never been this flustered in my life.

He just ignored me. "You betray your fal'Cie to chase after dreams and shadows. The world you claim to wish to protect now faces the end of days with no hope of salvation."

"I didn't think fal'Cie had the means." Lightning stepped up, too. She was furious as well.

"Oh, it wont be fal'Cie that destroy her." He smirked. "Cocoon has provided generously for its human inhabitants' every want and need. Coddled by them, one may say. The result being their deep-seated fear and hatred of change and all things alien."

_Just let me slap him, please._

"Fed, nurtured, and ready to detonate at the slightest spark. The seeds of destruction take root, even now."

By then, most of us had our weapons out.

Lightning pointed her gunblade at Barthandelus. "What did you do to Cocoon?"

"I resigned, appointing Raines as Primarch in my stead." He said.

Snow and I were shocked. "Raines…he's alive?"

The fal'Cie simply laughed. "The puppet is restrung to serve my needs, yes. His eyes have long since turned to glass."

_Puppet? Restrung? He was a friend, not a puppet!_

"Of course, the Cavalry's eyes will see out friend as nothing more than a traitor to their cause." He looked up at Cocoon. "They'll say the fal'Cie got to him too, or some such drivel. And imagine-when I spread word that it's Orphan tugging at his strings-what happens next."

Sazh stuttered. "You're going to use the Cavalry to take the thing out?!"

"From what I've heard, the Cavalry would have no chance!" I exclaimed, flustered.

Dysley, Barthandelus, whatever he wants to be called, laughed. "Perhaps. Or perhaps I'll feign the howling of Pulsian wolves, and let the fear-addled sheep slaughter themselves first. Either way, the end is at hand!" Laughing more, he started to rise. "But what of yourselves? Will you enjoy the festivities beside me? Or perhaps..greet the end here, in the land where it all began?"

**Battle Commenced.**

…

The fal'Cie Barthandelus collapsed, and faded. Slowly, he had faded to a crystal.

Relief had almost gone through me, like we actually did it.

Then the crystal busted, and out came Dysley once again.

"The time has come."

We raised our weapons again, just in case he attempted to fight again.

"Allow me to extend my invitation," He rose his staff to the air. "To save a people beyond salvation, there is only Ragnarok." Dysley tapped the ground with a feathery touch, and that bird of his flew from it.

It zoomed past us, and into the air, forming into the airship once again.

"Cocoon suffers. Release her from the pain." The old man turned, disappearing once more.

We all stood there, weapons still out. Making sure that he wasn't playing one more damned trick.

He wasn't. I hope.

I clipped my blades back on my belt, sighting. "That guy will go to any sick extent, wont he?"

"Just give it up, Faith." Snow said.

"How do I give that up, Snow? Why aren't you angry?" I turned to him. "We both fell for his stupid trick!"

Snow shook his head. "I know I di-"

"So you're just going to stand there and do no-"

"That's enough!" Snow shouted. "We can do nothing! For all we know, she might not even wake up! Get over it, we've got bigger," He waved at the floating home. "issues to deal with."

I stepped back, mouth slightly agape. "She…She has to wake up." My voice was barely above a whisper as my vision started to blur from forming tears.

I heard Sazh sigh. "Now _that_ was a bit far."

My head had drooped. Could Serah not wake up from stasis? Fang and Vanille did. But, there's always that _maybe _in the way.

But, did Snow really have to yell?

"Oh, Faith." Snow's voice was sincere. I noticed his shadow got a bit closer, and I looked up slightly. "I shouldn't have-"

"Don't touch me!" I forcefully batted his hand away.

Then, maya met turquoise.

I turned on my heel, and bolted in the opposite direction of the ship. I was too upset for anything.

_Life has now decided to crash on me. _


	35. Chapter 34

_**AN: Hey there! It's TSoH here again, and I'm up for another chapter. I was planning on posting two chapters last month, but just kinda felt like mwoihfeof. Ahem. Sorry. xD Anyways, in the last chapter, Snow let out his angry and sadness on Faith, his soon to be little sister-in-law. Poor Faith. If you've read the preview, then you probably know who comes to cheer her up. And the last chapter didn't say that I have gotten a monitor AND internet! Now, I can post as much as I want, and do more stuff with my other stories. Oh, and one quick thing. If you're a fan of Eternal Sonata, you'll be seeing some of that soon C: Enjoy!**_

I ran. And ran. And ran. I eventually ran until I wasn't even on the bridge any more.

But I knew I was being followed. It wouldn't be Hope, he wouldn't know what to do. It wouldn't be Sazh. Or Fang. Or Vanille.

Snow? Not a chance.

It had to be Lightning. As much as I'd like to stop and just fall into her arms crying, I would expect more of a lecture, knowing my sister.

Yet, I know that running away from it wont stop it.

I just have to deal with it.

My legs eventually slowed down, and came to a halt. Lightning slowed to a jog as well, and put her hand around my arm.

"Faith," She said.

I kept my head down.

Lightning let go of my arm and cupped her hands around my face, pulling it towards her. "Faith, listen to me."

I looked up into her eyes, and more tears rolled down my face. "I just want to see Serah again. I really thought it was her!"

Lightning sighed, and bent over to reach my height.

"I mean, Snow even fell for it. But he yelled at me like it was my fault!" I wiped my cheeks, sniffling.

Then, I felt two arms wrap around me. "Forget what he did." Light's voice was small and soft, something that shocked me. "He's just as sad as you." Her voice paused. "And as me. We'll see her soon. I promise."

I closed my eyes, a small smile forming on my lips. _Lightning, thank you. _I hugged her back. "Whatever you say."

_**AN: And I apologize for such a short chapter. I'm brain dead of thoughts, so go ahead and complain. ;) You'll see more soon, and check out my other stories while you wait for the next chapter. See ya!**_


	36. Chapter 35

_**AN: OMG. Hey everyone! Guess who's back? No really, guess. xD THIS GIRL! Sorry for such the long wait, time sorta got away with me. You know, school and BIG tests! I went a few out of town field trips (I went to Disney with my band!), tests that could affect my high school years, all that stuff. I had gotten sick a LOT! But, we just got out of school for Summer break a few days ago, so I'm free for a few months! YAY! **_

_**Wanna know something? I've been writing Triple Farron for almost 2 years! (That means I really love writing it, aaaaaand I'm taking forever to finish it.) :p**_

_**But anyways! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**_

Lightning and I made it back to the ship, but everyone was gone.

"Where did they go?" I asked, looking up to her. I wasn't thinking of anything _bad_ that could have happened. But, you never know.

She kept walking forward. "They're on the ship."

Oh. Oops.

I jogged to catch up with her, and we boarded on.

…

After getting on, Lightning sat in the co-pilot's seat, patting me on the shoulder as I walked past her.

As I sat down, Fang stood up. "Okay, we all got the plan?"

"You betcha!" Vanille high-fived the other Pulsian.

"Plan?" I looked at Hope, who I had sat next to.

He turned to me. "Bust into Eden, and set our record straight."

Vanille then pointed to Hope. "Aaaand, we'll do so using out secret weapons…"

_**AN: Okay now the only reason this chapter is (if you can remember was happens next ;D) because the next will have such a cool scene that I want to have it's own chapter. To make it have a cool atmosphere. :D I'mma try to get that chapter up by tomorrow, or by the day after tomorrow.**_

_**Believe me, I'm gonna need a bit to write the next chapter. **_

_**Oh! And I've seen a lot of people make theme songs for their Ocs, so I made one for Faith! I'm trying to get the audio file from the Finale Notepad file, and put it on YouTube! (If anyone knows how to do that, please message me!) **_


	37. Chapter 36

_**AN: Hey there, my friends! Back with the next chapter of Triple Farron. Sorry if it's a little late. This chapter is going to be…EPIC! :D Oh, btw, I finally got Faith's theme uploaded to YouTube! Here's the link: Youtube dot com /**__**watch?v=s7TLY7ebrry**__** Hopefully, that works! If not, please message me and I'll fix it! (No spaces, and replace the word 'dot' with .)**_

_**Anyways. Enjoy…**_

"Leviathan!" I called out for my Eidolon, as me and the others were launched out of the airship.

Our plan: Intrude Eden as they were having their car race, finding our way to Orphan.

…Hopefully.

Leviathan emerged from the crystarium, and caught me in the air.

I patted the side of his head. "Good boy!" And he hovered over the race track.

Many racers had squealed to a halt in front of me, and turned around to zoom the other way.

But, that's when the soldiers came in. Shooting their guns, and attacking us.

"Let's get out of here!" I squinted my eyes, and noticed Lightning was getting out pretty quick. "Leviathan, go to her!"

He flapped his wings strong, and flying fast over the soldiers. "Light!"

Lightning looked up, riding on Odin. She glanced down, though, and then yelled something in reply.

"What?!" I couldn't understand what she said! She looked alarmed…

Then, Leviathan started to wobble and lose air. "Boy, what's the matter?" My Eidolon started to fade, as if he were heading back into the crystarium.

"No, no, no! Leviathan, don't! Woah!" I went through him, and my crystal disappeared.

My hands reached for anything as I fell, I yelled while in the air.

Then, _thunk_! I landed on something.

"You okay?" Lightning and Odin had caught me!

Oh man, what a relief.

I nodded, and positioned myself right up on her Eidolon.

After doing that, the sun started to rise and shine.

Odin galloped forward, and I held on to Lightning's abdomen. "We're leaving the others beh-!"

"They'll catch up."

I breathed, nodding.

The Eidolon stopped, rearing back a bit.

_What's the matter with Odin? _

"Faith, hold on tight. Okay?" Lightning's head was turned back slightly to me.

I gave her a look of confusion. "What's going on?" I looked from around her, and there was a large enemy approaching!

Clutching onto her, "Alright!" She summoned up two swords.

**Battle Commenced**

…

Once the battle was over, and the robot-like enemy was defeated by my sister, Lightning hopped off Odin. She gave me a hand down.

Odin disappeared into her crystarium.

I looked up to her, then behind me as the others caught up to us.

A sound rang out, a very _weird _sound.

"What's that sound?"


	38. Chapter 37

_**AN: OKAY. I'M SOOOOO SORRY ;A; I have not written any Triple Farron in forever, and I HAVE been working on this chapter from time to time! Just, I've recently gone in concert band after doing Marching band, which was SOMUCHWORK AMG. And I'm a freshman in high school, things are tough! But, after some encouraging reviews, I've finally gotten to this. So here you go! Maybe I'll even make more than one chapter….;)**_

* * *

><p>Explosions everywhere!<p>

Snow stepped up to look around. "What's going on out there?"

"Look's like the Calvary's made their move." Hope answered.

"There's more to it than that." We looked over to Sazh, who picked up an army earpiece. He rested it against his ear to listen. "They're saying…Eden is crawling with Pulse nasties."

"Fresh off the ark, I'd wager."

Sazh shook his head. "This is out of control. What will happen to Cocoon?"

"It's all out war." Lightning walked up, staring at the madness.

Hope crossed his arms. "Did we cause this by coming back? Barthandelus's prediction-it's all coming true."

I tapped my chin. "That sounds about right"

"Well his future stops here. We're the ones who decide what happens next."

"Let's get moving!"

With that, we started back up.

…

After many encounters, we found a dead end. Well, more of a dead fall.

"Uh, okay." Sazh hugged himself, looking over to the edge. "I don't know about this."

Vanille knelt down. "If only we could fly!"

Lightning handed her a Graviton Grenade. "We can jump." She said quickly, before leaping off.

I ran up to the edge, facing Vanille. "Here we go!" And fell backwards off the edge.

And after a couple of minutes, I dropped the device on the ground, and landed in a gravity bubble. "Alright…" I stood up, patted down my dress, and ran to catch up with Lightning.

My sister had already knocked out all the soldiers on deck, luckily!

Once everyone else caught up with us, we made way to the road, where cars were flying at incredible speed.

Sazh sheathed his guns back up. "So, the Cavalry's here to uh...?"

"They're here for Orphan."

_Not a shocker. _Yet everyone else seemed shocked about it as Lightning explained. "If it's close to the fal'Cie Eden, they're probably headed for the heart of the Sanctum."

"So, this means-"

"If they destroy it, bad things are going to happen." Fang nodded to me.

I gestured to her. "Exactly. We don't need more bad things to happen than there has been already."

"So long Cocoon."

Snow stepped in. "Then we better get there before they do."

The others agreed, but Lightning? She didn't even have a word. I glanced at her, close enough to hear her mumble, "Uh, oh."

Well, that's distressing. "Light, what's wrong?"

"Let's move!" Lightning grabbed her gunblade, running out onto the road.

"Lightning!"

"Hey, hey, hey!"

She ran off, bouncing across the speeding cars, and I froze when I saw her come face-to-face with a towering behemoth.

_Damnit, sis! _Lightning barreled into the monster, and ended up being reflected off.

"Lightning, no!" I started running out, with Snow and the others hot on my trail.

But Lightning isn't one to just take a bad landing, now is she? She stabbed the blade into the ground, catching her fall and landing on two feet.

We made it over.

That behemoth isn't making it out without a fight!

**Battle Commenced**

…

Once the monster was put in his place, I huffed.

But of course, we l'Cie never get breaks! Some other fish looking things were off to our left, and I sighed. "Really?"

"We're never gonna make it," Sazh groaned.

Vanille placed her hands on both mine and Sazh' s backs. "Not with an attitude like that, we won't!"

"We can run past through there," Lightning pointed near some cars.

We all agreed, and took off.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: So, sorry it's not all that long! It's 4 in the morning and I'm exhausted. But hey, I'll work on it more once I get some sleep! :D<strong>_** 333**


	39. UPDATE

- Hey guys! TSoH here.

I know it's been a loooong while since I did anyone on FF, and I feel really bad about it. But...

I don't think I'll be updating any of the stories on here, which gives me a little pang of guilt in my heart since I love these stories and I love you guys for reading them! I get messages a lot asking, "When will you write the next chapters of *insert*?" And I told you guys I would write more.

I've just gotten busy, and I lost my sense of writing for those stories. Lost the groove, I guess. I'm so sorry! I will be leaving the stories up for you guys to reread over and over again, as much as you want.

Maybe I'll pick back up on them another day, but for now I just can't. I might write other fanfiction, and I'm actually going to post on my account! Some roleplaying stories, and others if I can think of anything :)

Fanfiction just hasn't been my thing for a couple of years now, and I have a new computer so I lost most of my old fanfics anyways.

But, I have a whole bunch of info about my FP on my page on here, plus any other info like deviantART and all.

I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH! 3

~TSoH


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